Flashbacks and Memories
by taylorj2000
Summary: This story is a sequel to The Ransom in a mini-series of The Story of Virgil Tracy. Virgil is badly injured and in hospital. His brothers and old friends (past and present) relive the events of the past. (Ch. 14 upgraded and uploaded). Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 1)**

By Jenny Taylor

Scott just stands there, leaning against the white, clean wall in the waiting room of Sydney Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. With him in the waiting room was Gordon and Alan. All three brothers are filled with shock, worry, fear and despair.

They have been in the waiting room outside the operating theatre for 30 minutes, waiting and dreading for the outcome of Virgil's life-saving and emergency operations.

Gordon is sitting on a green couch hugging Alan, not just for the youngest benefit, but for his own as both of them are badly shaken by that rescue that went badly wrong.

Scott looks down at his younger brothers as they wait for their middle brother and adopted sister to arrive, shaking his head, his head full of questions as all three brothers silently relive the past events that had tragically led up to here and now.

* * *

 _Yesterday…_

 _It started when Tracy Island received a call from John on Thunderbird 5, who received a call from International Rescue's parent company, Tracy Industries, that their branch in Sydney received a visit from the Australian Federal Police, who informed them that their artist brother Virgil, who was away on vacation, had been kidnapped by The Hood the day before._

 _This had led to a Code Red conference between the Tracy family and their friends Kayo and Brains (Who lives with them), Lady Penelope and Parker (Their IR Agents who are based in Great Britain) and their godmother, Commanding Chief of the Global Defence Force, long-time family friend and ally, Colonel Catherine Casey._

 _During the conference, they received a call from their nemesis, The Hood, with a holo-vid of their missing brother. He gave them his demands and particularly death threats to Virgil_ IF _they didn't give him what he wanted, which is obvious on what he wants, International Rescue and her machines, the Thunderbirds._

 _He even given the family a taste of Virgil's fate in a form of water torture with ice, being performed in front of them! He had also given Scott a deadline to make a fateful decision between IR and his brother._

 _After the villain had signed off, the family was on the verge of panicking, when a call for help came through and distracted them for the time being._

 _The rescue had taken place in the Sydney Tower complex and with the help of the local emergency services and the GDF, the rescue was a success and everyone got out of the complex alive._

 _But, during that rescue, they met someone, whom they thought that she was dead, alive and well, working as a lone and famous rescue worker/doctor, who is having serious problems with the GDF, especially with their godmother Colonel Casey._

 _They also discovered that it was she, who had witnessed their brother, her boyfriend, being kidnapped by The Hood's henchman and reported the incident to the local police. With that knowledge and relief upon seeing their long-lost and treasured friend alive, they told her about the situation._

 _After receiving the info, she was able to make a fool-proof plan in how to rescue Virgil. After arriving home, the 4 brothers told everyone a slightly altered version of her rescue plan to save Virgil._

 _Earlier today…_

 _After some rest they go through the altered rescue plan several times before the approaching deadline and prepare the required Thunderbirds/equipment for the task ahead._

 _They all followed the plan to the letter and everything fell into place as predicted by their old friend, that is until they reached the point of rescuing Virgil from the Pacific Ocean, when Mother Nature turned against them._

 _Instead of letting off an avalanche that killed their mother when Alan was a couple of years old, she released of her deadliest predators of the seven seas, a Great White Shark, and set it upon the bound and helpless Tracy brother._

 _It pounced and sunk its teeth into Virgil's legs, spilling lots of blood into the blue ocean. It tried to swim away with its meal, but something that was tied from Virgil's ankles to the Hood's ship, prevented it from doing so and in response to that, is to thrash its prey wildly in order to free its tethered meal._

 _As soon as the Hood ditched his prisoner and left him to his fate, as well as being chased by the approaching GDF Quad-planes, Gordon used Thunderbird 4 to ram the shark, hard, forcing it to abandon its meal and freeing Gordon to go out into the ocean to rescue his badly injured brother._

 _After getting Virgil on-board his 'Bird', Gordon had radioed to his brothers in Thunderbird 2 to pick him up, fast. Simply because Virgil was unresponsive, unconscious, losing lots of blood, broken legs and possibly suffered shock and drowning._

 _Scott rushed over to pick up his younger brothers, while Brains was talking to Gordon into life-saving medical procedures. As soon as Thunderbird 4 is back into its module and the module retrieved and connected with its mothership, Scott and Gordon transferred Virgil from the little yellow submarine to the med-bay of Thunderbird 2._

 _Alan had stayed in the cockpit, frozen in horror when he saw the horrifying images of the second born brother, while the first and fourth born brothers are performing the medical procedures under the instructions of Brains, who is watching them via the holo-vid._

 _After doing as much as they can and consulting with their resident scientist, it was then decided that they don't have the life-saving equipment back at base, which left them with no choice but to take Virgil to a mainstream hospital._

 _The choice of hospital was a bit unusual in the sight of the scientist, because they would normally send their brother with life-threating injuries to a mainstream hospital in New Zealand, as it is the nearest mainland to home._

 _But Scott had decided to take Virgil to a mainstream hospital in Australia, Brains didn't question why verbally, but after Brains was offline, Scott told Gordon his reasons, which he understood and stayed with Virgil while Scott heads off to the cockpit and steers Thunderbird 2 towards Australia._

 _Alan had joined Gordon and they had both spoken to John, to update him with the latest developments, while Scott updated Colonel Casey and then gave John some orders for him to perform._

 _Thunderbird 2 had met up with the local ambulance in the Royal Botanic Gardens, as it is the nearest and biggest area for the great green machine to land to the hospital, Scott and Gordon, with some help from the paramedics, transferred Virgil from the med-bay to the waiting ambulance._

 _The local police had offered to take the brothers to the hospital, after they relocate a landing spot for the Thunderbird. Scott informed the head officer that there will be a second Thunderbird arriving with the rest of the family, which the officer acknowledged him and alerted his colleagues at Sydney Airport._

 _Gordon stayed with Virgil in the ambulance, while Scott and Alan took-off in Thunderbird 2 and headed towards the airport. When they arrived at the airport, there were security sanctioning of an area specifically for the Thunderbirds._

 _After doing the post-flight checks and switching the security and defence protocols on, Scott and Alan left the craft and joined an airport security officer and AFP who escorted the 2 brothers out of the airport in a Heli-jet, towards the hospital._

 _Upon landing in the courtyard, they were greeted by hospital staff, who led them inside to the Emergency Department where they met Gordon, standing outside a curtained room where various doctors and nurses are flooding in and out for various and essential equipment and medical supplies for the tasks ahead._

 _It was clear that Gordon had informed the medical personal the details of what happened to the medical member of the team and family and was told to wait outside the area. As soon as Scott and Alan joined him, the curtain had swung open and the medics are pushing the gurney containing their lifeless brother, towards another part of the hospital as fast and as safely as they can._

 _The trio wanted to follow, but were stopped by a senior doctor. He introduced himself as Doctor Irwin and informed them of their brother's condition. As they stood and listened, it was clear that although his chances of survival are 50/50, his chances to walk again was much, much lower and a high possibility that he might lose one or both legs, but it all depends on the results with X-Rays, MRI and Ultra-Sound Scan._

 _Then they followed the doctor, who showed them to a waiting room outside the operating theatre which is being prepared for their brother's immediate arrival from the scans. This had the trio worried as Dr. Irwin explained to them that Virgil needs immediate, life-saving and life-changing surgery as him and his colleagues will try their upmost best to save Virgil and his legs._

 _Scott had asked him how long would the operations take, by which the doctor answered with an estimate of 4 to 12 hours, depending on the severity of the injuries. By this time, the gurney, surrounded and pushed by the nurses, appeared down corridor and up towards the theatre carrying its precious cargo._

 _The entourage by-passed the worried brothers and entered the theatre's double doors, followed by various surgeons and doctors and then Dr. Irwin left the boys in the waiting room to join his colleagues._

* * *

The trio remained in their places, waiting to be joined by their space-bound, ginger-haired brother and their adopted sister, their faces remained the same, apart from Alan and Gordon who are starting to cry as the reality of the past events is sinking in.

Scott looks up towards the Terrible Two and was about to join them, so he can comfort them, when a pair of running feet coming from the corridor stops him in his track. He turns to look for the owners of the noise and saw the duo that they were waiting for, John and Kayo.

"Hello Space-Case, Tanusha." He smiled faintly, his blue eyes filled with worry and the duo stops near the group to catch their breath.

"Hello Scooter, any news about Virgil?" John replied quietly, his green-eyes filled with concern for his siblings as Kayo first looked at the youngest two and then towards the eldest. Scott shook his head slowly before he informs the newly arrived pair about their musical brother.

John and Kayo listened, their faces filled with worry as they then decided to sit on the adjacent couch to the one that the youngest two currently occupied until Scott decides to join them and sat next to Alan and then places his arm around him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 2)**

By Jenny Taylor

Silence filled the room for a few minutes, until it broke by the voice of the oldest person in the room. "You okay Sprout, Fish?" The said persons looked up towards the owner of the quiet question.

"Just about." Gordon replied quietly whereas Alan replied with a sniffle and leaned into the side of Scott, seeking comfort from his hero. Scott wrapped his arms around the baby of the brothers, rubbing circles into his back.

Silence descends into the room, no-one dared to speak nor wanting to break it. Several minutes later, Scott breaks the silence again with a question, but not to his brothers.

"Kayo?" The said person looks up at him, her white-knuckle fists on her knees, her face reddened with anger and disgust, her amber eyes screams murder and worry. His tone sounded with a mixture of a warning, disappointment, worry and curiosity.

"What did you do when you arrived at the scene, apart from that fact that you disobeyed orders _again_?"

Kayo looked down and sighed.

She couldn't lie to Scott nor the others, not this time, especially when her kindest 'brother' is now in a life-threatening condition, caused by her only, living blood-relative, The Hood. She took a deep breath, looks up to face four brothers and begins her tale.

* * *

 _On-Board Thunderbird Shadow…_

 _Kayo was flying her 'Bird' towards The Hood's ship where her 'brother' Virgil was held prisoner, flying it as low and as close to the ocean's surface as possible, without getting her 'Bird' wet. She was angry with the villain and threatened to do something bad to him._

 _When she saw the ship, she slowed down to take a closer at it and to find the Tracy brother in the ocean blue, but in doing so, something had caught her eye. It looked like a cable 'hanging' down from the ship and it was this unusual act from the villain which rose the curiosity of International Rescue's Head of Security._

 _But then, that's when the horror of horrors broke the heart of one of the hardest women on the planet. The slack cable suddenly became taut and moving violently from below. She followed the cable down towards a scene that places her heart into her mouth and sends her into a world of emotions as she watches helplessly at the horrifying action below her._

 _After a few tense moments, which felt like hours, she noticed that the Hood had dropped the cable and was making a run for it. Kayo was torn between trying to help her helpless and injured 'brother' and catching the evil-mastermind._

 _However, whether it was God or fate that made her decision as she saw underneath the ocean waves is the bright, yellow submarine of Thunderbird 4, rammed itself into the creature that attacked Virgil._

 _It was clear to her that Gordon had got everything under control in the rescue, which left her with her favourite option, confronting the world's most wanted criminal. And this time_ she _will be the one asking the questions_ and _get her revenge on him._

 _She turned the sleek, black reconnaissance stealth craft towards the direction of the fleeing ship. It didn't take her long to catch up and within a few seconds, she turned Thunderbird Shadow upside down and had it docked underneath the villain's ship._

 _She made her way underneath the ship, upside down, towards the side of the ship. When she made her way to the side of the ship, she used her scanners in her helmet to find a side entrance, which she did find about 10 yards towards the rear of the ship from where she's holding._

 _Once she'd got to the door and cut her way through it, she was inside the ship. However, cutting the door had set the alarms off and is sending the minions towards her. She used her martial arts skills to knock down her opponents as she made her way towards the Hood._

 _Then she bumped into another minion and she demanded him to give her the location of his master. Half smiling at this vital information, she knocked him out cold and went down the corridor, using her scanners to look for the ventilation shaft that led to the room containing her wanted man._

 _She crawled along the shaft until it reached a junction, she didn't know which way to go until she heard a familiar voice, echoing down one side shafts. She turned awkwardly towards the chosen shaft and shuffled towards the noise, which is growing louder until some light is starting to filter through. She got closer to the source until she got to a grate which gave her a birds-eye view of her destination._

 _The Hood was in his spacious office, standing in front of his desk hammering down his fists, yelling. It is clear to her that he was angry, well… angry was an understatement… he was furious and upset. She was smiling, thinking that International Rescue had foiled his plans to_ kill _Virgil which has got him angry, but what she is about to hear has shocked her to the core._

" _That shark! That damn, bloody shark had to ruin my plan to_ fake _that Tracy's_ death _so I can use him as my obedient, cyborg slave!"_

 _Kayo shook her head, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock and disbelief! Did she hear him right? He can't be serious in what he's saying, is he? He_ planned _to_ fake _Virgil's_ death _so that Virgil ends up becoming a_ slave _to this_ monster _behind the Tracy family's back? Questions filled her mind and she wanted answers now!_

 _She moved around in the tight space so she's in the position to make her entrance. With one kick the grate fell and hit the ground with a muffled crash (since the floor of the room was covered in carpet). The Hood spun on the spot, clearly startled at the noise and what cause it, he didn't have to wait long for the answer as Kayo dropped down and landed safely into the room in front of him._

 _She ripped off her helmet and threw to the ground, her face turned red in anger, her eyes filled with hatred as she stared towards the bald-headed villain, her body is so tense that it screamed murder. The Hood stood there for a few seconds in shock and surprise, and then regained his composure a little as he faces the Head of International Rescue's Security._

" _Why I'm not surprised it's you!" He snorted in disgust at the unwelcomed sight. Kayo was too angry to reply to that remark, but instead she demanded answers to her questions about him and Virgil._

" _What's this about_ faking _Virgil's death? I thought that you want him_ dead _because we_ refused _to hand you over the Thunderbirds!" Her voice filled with anger and disgust as both her and the villain circled each other._

" _The reasons_ WHY _I want Virgil_ ALIVE _is_ _ **NONE**_ _of your business!"_

" _ **Lier!**_ _You want to use him as your_ _ **slave!**_ _How_ _ **dare**_ _you do this to my family?" The villain smirked._

" _That's only_ **part** _of my plans for him!" Kayo was slightly taken aback at that remark._

" _And what does_ _ **that**_ _supposed to mean?"_

" _I_ _ **mean**_ _what I_ _ **said**_ _Kayo… I have bigger plans for him, but_ that's _between me and him_ _ **only**_ _!" He said seriously and menacingly, before he continued with his own question to the said person. "Enough said…How on Earth did you manage to find me_ _ **and**_ _organise a rescue operation to_ _ **rescue**_ _Virgil Tracy?"_

 _This time Kayo smirked. "I was wandering that myself when the boys made the plan." The villain looked confused for a moment before speaking._

" _Are you trying to say that when the Tracys came up with the plan, it turns out that they were using someone else's plan and adapt to fit their needs?" Kayo didn't answer to that, because although she knew that what the villain was saying_ _ **is**_ _correct, but she didn't know who gave them the idea._

 _And that's when she makes a mistake, by standing a second too long in thought, the Hood lunges at her and punched her to the ground, almost knocking her out cold as her head hit the floor hard. The Hood called for his minions to collect her on the intercom._

 _Kayo then realised that she's going to get caught if she didn't get out, now she has_ some _information on the Hood's plan for Virgil. She jumped back onto her feet, swiftly tripped him which led him to falling flat onto his face as she made a run towards the double doors._

 _But her pathway was blocked as 3 henchmen came rushing in through the doors. She stopped and turned her head to face the criminal who had just got up onto his feet. He menacingly walked towards her, his face showed a mixture of anger and disappointment._

" _Do you think that will let you go, now that you know_ _ **some**_ _of my plans for Virgil Tracy?"_

" _You'll have to do better than that to catch me!" She half shouted. But before she can make a more, another henchman called out over the intercom._

"Boss! The GDF! They're catching us up fast! And they've threatened to shoot us down!"

 _The men were stunned at the news and spoke to each other in confusion. Seeing the opportunity, Kayo knocked the minions to the ground in a few swift movements, ran to pick up her helmet and then ran towards the open doors._

" _AFTER HER!" The Hood yelled at his men as Kayo bolted down the corridors towards the entrance she made earlier. Kayo was nearing the exit when she received a call from John._

"Kayo... _"_

" _Kind of busy here John." She barked hurriedly._

"Drop whatever you are doing Kayo and pick me up from Tracy Island and take me to Sydney Hospital… **NOW!** " _The once quiet and calm John had now become fearful and anger as his voice came through her comms._

 _Kayo had noticed from experience that an angry and frightened John is a John who is_ _ **not**_ _to be messed with as it takes a lot to make John angry and from the tone of voice he used earlier indicated that John has info about Virgil and not the good kind either._

" _I'll be with you within 15 minutes John." She replied calmly and then switched off her comms. Her heart was racing. She can feel the hurt coming from John and this can only mean that Virgil is injured so badly that he needed specialist treatment from a mainland hospital._

 _And within a few minutes she reached the exit, climbed down towards her stealth craft, got in, started the engines, detached her craft from the villain's and turned Thunderbird S towards the direction of home and took-off at top speed._

 _As soon as she arrived at the island, she met John in the hanger and they both made their way to Thunderbird 1. John had told her that Scott instructed for Kayo to fly One, which she nodded in acceptance._

 _They both strapped into the sleek, silver rocket's cockpit, with Kayo in the pilot's seat as Thunderbird One is carried up towards the launch platform underneath the swimming pool, which at the same time, it is retracting back to allow the fastest aircraft of the International Rescue fleet, to launch._

 _After a few seconds Kayo pushed down on the controls and the thrusters erupted into life, sending the silver rocket up into the air and leaving its home behind. After a further few seconds, Kayo switched Thunderbird one from vertical to horizontal flight and then pushed it to its top speed of 15,000 miles an hour towards Australia._

 _Within a few minutes, Thunderbird One had landed next to its sister ship in Sydney Airport. When Kayo had finished the post-flight checks, she joined John outside and they followed the airport staff and AFP to the same Heli-jet that Alan and Scott flew in an hour earlier._

* * *

The four Tracy brothers looked up at her in shock and disbelief. They couldn't believe that their mortal enemy _wanted_ Virgil _alive_ _ **and**_ behind their backs, to be used as the villain's slave! All five of them sat back in the couches and gave out a loud sigh, turning to look at the closed doors where the doctors are doing their best to save the biggest and kindest Tracy brother of all, Virgil.


	3. Chapter 3

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 3)**

By Jenny Taylor

Several minutes have passed since Kayo gave the brothers her account on the information she gained from her uncle, The Hood. Several doctors and nurses had come and gone from the theatre, where the gentle giant of the brothers is receiving his life-saving treatments and none of those who left stopped to update the group.

Alan had fallen asleep on Scott's left side, while the eldest leaned back onto the couch. Gordon, who is sitting to the left of the youngest, was playing some game on his mobile phone. John is sitting on the other couch pretending to read a magazine while Kayo curled herself next to him, trying to sleep.

Scott looked around the room, feeling thirsty. Noticing the magazines on the table in front of him, he moved carefully, as he tries not to disturb the young blonde's sleep, to reach a magazine. He grabs one and flings it at John.

"Oww." John spoke quietly as he rubs his head looking towards the culprit.

"Sorry Space Case," Whispered Scott. "Could you get us some coffee?" John looked at him with a 'really' look, but looks at the young astronaut sleeping against the aeronaut, his hand holding Scott's uniform in a death grip. John then looks back up at his eldest, seeing the tired and pleading look John nods slowly in understanding and stands up.

"Do you want one too Squid, Kayo?" He asked quietly, the said pairs nodded, Gordon stayed where he is, while Kayo announced that she needed the bathroom and got up to follow John to the cafeteria.

John arrived at the cafeteria and headed towards the coffee counter, while Kayo splits to answer the call of nature. After ordering the drinks, he arrived at the till to pay when a hand was placed on his shoulder, followed by a familiar voice.

"I'll pay for them Ginger Wolf." John spun around to see the long-lost and forgotten friend standing next to him, giving him a small smile.

"Jaycee!" He almost shouted in excitement.

"Long time no see John." She said quietly, her voice tinted with sadness. "How long's the operation for?" He stood for a bit, knowing to whom she's asking for.

"The doctor said between 4 to 12 hours." He replied sadly, Jaycee winced before her face fell upon hearing the info.

"How's long he's been in theatre?" Looking straight into the green eyes of the red-haired astronaut.

"About 2 hours now." She nodded and sighed, before looking around and turning back to John.

"John, there's something that I need to tell you guys," She looked around again before whispering, nervously. "In private, _without_ Kayo." John was shocked to hear Kayo's name coming from her mouth and looking into her blue eyes, tells him that she's serious and strangely scared. And then remembering on what happened when 3 out of 4 earthbound brothers first met her yesterday during the rescue at the Sydney Tower complex.

"Alright then, I'll meet you in 10. It won't be easy to get rid of Kayo but we'll try." He sighed as he picked up the take-away cups and placed them into the holders as Jaycee paid the casher, looking at them with curiosity and confusion.

Jaycee nodded and waited for a bit as John reunited with Kayo, who was waiting by the cafeteria double doors for him, and then followed them from a distance towards the waiting room.

As John and Kayo arrived at their destination, they can see that there hasn't been any movement since they left (apart from Gordon's fingers as he plays a game on his mobile). Kayo takes her cup from John and sits back down on the couch that she and John occupied earlier.

John walks over to the trio of brothers on the adjacent couch and taps Gordon on the shoulder. The fish of the family looks up at his intermediate older brother, nods at the unspoken gesture and takes his cup from him.

John then heads over to the eldest, taking care not to wake up the baby of the family. Scott carefully stretches his free arm out to collect his cup from John. He was about to nod in thanks when he notices that John was leaning forward towards him in a gesture that he wants to talk to him in private and in Scott's earhole.

"Jaycee's here." John whispered, which made Scott wide-eyed in surprise for a second before looking sideways back at the red-head. "And she wants to speak to us now and _without_ Kayo, plus she's looking nervous."

Scott nodded in response, "Okay John, I'll send Kayo to make her report to Colonel Casey. That way it will keep the girls busy while we sort out Jaycee. Wait for a couple minutes after Kayo's left and then go and fetch her." He whispers, which the red-head nodded in agreement and then walked towards the couch where their adopted sister sat and sits next to her.

After a couple of minutes, Scott looks around the room, clears his throat and addressed his family. "Guys," Everyone, including Alan who had just woken up from Scott's cough, looks at him, waiting for him to spill what he needed them to do.

Scott sighed heavily before looking back at them. "During the flight towards the hospital, we had a call from Colonel Casey," He paused and looks down at Alan, who nods slowly in agreement, and then returns to face the group.

"I told her what happened to Virgil at the time," He pauses again to breathe in and out slowly before continuing. "And she wants us to write an official written report from each one of us and send them to her as soon as possible."

Silence fell as the others take in what had been said.

The daunting task of writing official reports are, thankfully, extremely rare, but still… it had to be done in order to bring the family's nemesis, the world's most wanted criminal mastermind, The Hood, to justice, _after_ what he had done to Virgil and what he's _about_ to do _to_ him _if_ the villain had kept his hands on the kindest brother.

Anger and tension fills the room as the events of the past couple of days returns with a vengeance. Scott senses the unhealthy atmosphere after a few seconds after he spoke and then decides to put the plan into action in disposing Kayo for a few hours.

"Kayo," The said person looks up at the Commander/Field Commander of International Rescue, "I would like you to find Colonel Casey and inform her of your findings asap and in person. The sooner that she's informed on what you told us earlier, the better for us and Virgil…"

Scott's voice trailed off at mentioning of his intermediate younger brother, trying to keep his emotions in check after seeing the horrific injuries the said brother had suffered. Kayo raised an eyebrow in curiosity at Scott's request, but after a look in Scott's blue eyes, she nodded in agreement, stood up, gave herself a stretch before relaxing her muscles and then walked out of the room, taking her half empty take-away drink with her.

A couple of minutes later and a nod of conformation from Scott, John stood up and walked out of the room to look for their long-lost friend. Alan and Gordon both looked up in confusion at John's dismissal and turn to look at the eldest with questioning looks. Scott saw the looks and gave them a small smile.

"John's gone to get an old girlfriend of Vee's." At first there was confusion as the Terrible Two looked at each other and then realisation hits them on whom Scott is referring to, which is being confirmed by John, shortly followed by Doctor Jaycee Anderson, whom had a small smile on her face.

"Speedy Gonzalez, Clown Fish, Monkey Boy."

"MOM!" The two blondes cried as they both jumped off the couch, which nearly made the brunette fall off from their actions, ran towards her and enveloped her into a hug, with Alan on her left and Gordon on her right.

For Jaycee, it felt good to be crushed in a hug produced by the Terrible Twosome, only this time they are now 14 or 15 years older since the last time she was hugged this tight. She can hardly breathe as the two blondes held her in a death grip, refusing to let her go after now knowing that she's being alive after all these years. There were tears forming in her eyes and then felt the tight hug becoming tighter as she felt John and Scott who had joined in with the group hugging fest.

She can see that all four boys had tears in their eyes and hearing the old nickname, that's been commonly used by the youngest duo and occasionally by the elder trio in the past, had reminded them of the difficult times the Tracy brothers had as soon after they had lost their real mom as kids, the then young Jaycee Anderson, who had been transferred from another school to theirs, ended up in Virgil's class and then entered their lives and became an unofficial surrogate mother at first to the youngest duo and later included John (and on occasions Scott and Virgil on a bad day), as well as becoming best friends to John and Scott and became Virgil's girlfriend.

The hugging lasted for a few minutes with neither brother wanting to be the first to break the contact, until Jaycee spoke squeakily and sounding like she couldn't breathe.

"As much as I like this to continue boys, but… I can't breathe and I've got something important to tell you." The youngest pair nearly giggled at her voice, but then they all let go of her and she took some deep breaths to regain her composure and colour.

Scott took her arm and led her to a couch and sat down next to her, while the younger trio went to occupy the other couch.

They waited for a few minutes to allow her to speak in her own time. They knew that whatever she wanted to say to them has something to do with Colonel Casey, but Scott and John had a feeling that she wanted to say more and it might have something to do with her sudden and abrupt disappearance 14 years ago.

Jaycee looked at the boys, she can see that they are waiting for her to speak. She sighed, cleared her throat and starts to speak.

"I guess that you boys want to know what happened to me." She looked around to see that all the boys nodded and waiting anxiously, she sighed again and begins her tale.

"It all started 14 years ago…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 4)**

By Jenny Taylor

Jaycee looked at the boys, she can see that they are waiting for her to speak. She sighed, cleared her throat and starts to speak.

"I guess that you boys want to know what happened to me." She looked around to see that all the boys nodded and waiting anxiously, she sighed again and begins her tale.

"It all started 14 years ago…"

* * *

 _14 years earlier in Manhattan, New York…_

Two young 5th Grade students met each other outside Hunter College Elementary School, a 10-year-old Virgil Tracy and a 11-year-old Jaycee Anderson, one filled with joy, the other filled with fear and sadness.

When people, who did not know them, saw these two as best friends, but to the Tracy family, particularly to a 13-year-old Scott and a 9-year-old John, these two were in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

On a normal school day, these two youngsters are filled with joy when they met each other, causing some jealousy from classmates and other students from the High School on the same site.

This however doesn't faze the young lovers and ignore those who makes fun of them and continue to see each other during school, after school when all six children (all five Tracy brothers and Jaycee) return to the Tracy household until she leaves to return to live with her mother's parents, during the weekends with Virgil visits Jaycee's home and stays with her for the regular sleepovers and during the school holidays these two will spend the day at the Tracy household and then at night Virgil returns with Jaycee to her house to spend the night together.

But today, unknown to the young lovers, will be the last day that they will ever see each other, despite Virgil promising her that he will protect her and bring her back to his place for protection and to live with him and his brothers permanently and away from whoever it was who planned to take her away from him and his family the next day.

Jaycee, despite her, Virgil and their class being told by the teachers that today will be her last day at school made her very, very angry, exploded and told everyone that whoever told the teachers that she's leaving is a _lie_ and _will_ be back at this same school on Monday.

At the end of a normal Friday, she would go with the brothers and stay at their place for a few hours and then Virgil would accompany her back to her place to stay for the weekend. But today is no ordinary Friday.

Instead of the brothers and her walking back to the Tracy household, Jeff Tracy, ex-astronaut and up-coming billionaire, came up to the school and picked up his sons telling them that there's something important that involved all the boys, which meant Jaycee couldn't come round to visit.

Both Jaycee and Virgil protested in despair with the former filled with sadness and fear and the latter filled with anger and fear. But sadly, Jeff ignored his second-born son's protest and ordered him to take his place in the car.

With the anger filling him at the fact that he couldn't refuse his dad when Jeff used 'the voice' and he's being forced to be apart from the one he loves, Virgil turns to Jaycee. Jaycee's eyes had turned red from crying in fear and sadness, his own eyes are starting to fill with unshed tears, Virgil gave Jaycee a big long hug.

Both of the lovers are filled with fear from this unexpected event, despite their age of being 10 and 11 years respectfully, they were completely grown-up, doing things that's normally reserved for mature teenagers/young adults, the duo gave each other a deep meaningful kiss.

They ignored the wide-eyed looks and opened mouths of the small audience while they continue their encounter. This would have continued longer, if Jeff didn't intervene by barking out his son's name.

After the kissing, Virgil's honey-coloured eyes looked deep into Jaycee's sky-blue eyes, the former filled with determination, the latter with fear and sadness. He then went close to her ear and whispered.

"Jaycee… Whatever is happening back at my place, I promise that I will come to your place on Saturday, to protect you and if possible to bring you home with me." A tearful Jaycee pulled away from him slightly, but her grip still firmly held onto him.

"Thank you Virgil… That's mean a lot to me… I love you Teddy Bear."

"Love you too Songbird."

And with that the pair separated, with Virgil reluctantly joining his family and Jaycee being forced to walk home alone after watching her lover and friends being driven away, dreading and fearing that this might be the last time that she'll see them again.

She returned to her home where she lives with her grandparents. The house was empty which is condition normal for Jaycee, because her grandparents neglected and ignored her since she was 3, why she did not know, but she feels that it might have something to do with her mom, whom she never met.

Frowned at the empty darkness of the place, she turns right and walks into the small kitchen. The small rectangular kitchen had the floor mounted and overhead cupboards lining the wall opposite the door, with a break in both rows of cupboards in a form of an electric floor-mounted, grey oven with an electric hob and an overhead, stainless steel extractor above the appliance.

To the left of the door there is a small wooden square table with two wooden chairs, one on each end. To the right of the door is the other large electrical appliances, which consists of a refrigerator/freezer combi, a washing machine and a tumble dryer. She turns to her right towards the refrigerator, opened it and pick up a small handful of white seedless grapes.

This sadly will be her final meal for today, knowing the abuse that she receives from her grandma will make her starving the next day if she picked out something bigger from the kitchen to eat.

She takes the handful of grapes and heads towards her bedroom. Her bedroom is on the second floor of the apartment which her grandparents had owned for years. She walks up the stairs, which faces opposite the front door, carefully, since she didn't want another incident involving them after that terrible day nearly 4 years ago.

As she reached the top of the stairs she turns right. Her bedroom on the immediate right of the landing, with the spare room next to hers, while her grandparent's bedroom faces the spare room on the other landing and the bathroom faces her bedroom.

Jaycee reaches for the handle and opens the door. Her bedroom is a medium-sized room with two identical single beds, one on the left, unused and the other on the right with a window on the wall between the beds.

The room hadn't been painted for years and had darkened over time which shows when the light of the sunset shines through. There were two identical bedside tables, one next to each bed, which were sat nearly underneath the window. At the foot of each bed was an identical wardrobe, with an identical big and heavily secured box on top. Above both beds were an identical set of shelving and storage boxes. The room looked like, once upon a time, been used by a set of identical female twins.

Jaycee sighs and shakes her head. She knows that, given she's living… well if could call it living, with the maternal grandparents, her mom used to sleep here and guessed that her mom could possibly had a twin sister. But that thought is just speculation, given the fact that she doesn't know, let alone _met_ her mom, and since her grandparents _refused_ to speak to her, let alone talk to her about her mom.

Tears starts to fall as they had done so for many years, in fear, sadness and loneliness as she sets her school backpack at the foot of her bed, places her handful of grapes onto a saucer on her bedside table and then turns and heads towards her wardrobe. She had these feelings before she met Virgil and those feelings had slowly disappeared the more she hung around with the Tracy brothers, especially with Virgil.

But this time is a different set of those feelings. She's afraid that she'll be taken and never see her beloved Virgil again. She's feeling sad because she's afraid as well as not being able to see her lover again but his adorable, fun-loving, even chaotic family. She's feeling lonely, because her knight in shining armour isn't here to protect from whoever this person is who's taking her away from them.

She had got sub-consciously changed into her PJ's and then opened her backpack. Normally she would have homework to do, but someone had told her tutor's that she's leaving and they didn't give her any, much to the annoyance for both her and her classmates for different reasons, so she had come home with nothing to do.

She gave out a slow sad groan, closed her bag-pack and shoved it under her bed. She pulls back the covers, sits on the edge of the bed, picks up the saucer, picks up a grape and starts to eat the tiny bright green fruit slowly as she looks up towards the window.

Next Friday would officially be the end of the school semester for the summer holidays and she would have plenty of time to spend with the Tracy's, especially celebrating Virgil's 11th birthday on August 15th, but now… these plans have been smashed and she's worried about tomorrow, hoping that Virgil will be here to fend off whoever they are who's planning to take her away from him.

When these people are coming she doesn't want to know and prays that they won't be coming and all this nightmare and lies is just a fake. She looks fearfully out of the window and then to the alarm clock on her bedside table, which the Roman numerals read 4.30pm.

She sighed again, she knew that she's going to bed too early again, but there's nothing to keep her occupied now that she's 'officially' leaving the school meaning no homework, plus Virgil's dad wanted all the boys for something important, so playing and hanging around with him is out of the question today.

She looks down at the empty saucer and places back next to the alarm clock, got up and walked back to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Once she returned to her room and placed the glass on the bedside table, she reached to grab the curtains when she looks out of the window once more.

She can see the northern part of Central Park and she knows that it looked beautiful during sunset, she couldn't get enough of it and to make it more special was sharing these moments with Virgil.

Although sunset isn't due for another 4 hours or so and that her grandparents won't be back home until nearly 11pm, she pulled the curtains closed and got into bed laid on her side with her head on her worn-out pillow and cried herself to sleep.

The next day went slowly as she is sadly reminded on what the weekends used to be like before she met Virgil, she'll try and sneak into the kitchen when her grandparents aren't looking, just to get something to eat, which is no bigger than a piece of fruit and to refill her glass with water.

Other than risking getting a beating from her grandma, she spent most of her time in her bedroom, waiting…waiting in both hope and fear. Hoping that Virgil will come to comfort and protect her and fearing that if, for some reason couldn't come, she'll be facing whoever is taking her away alone.

She sits on her bed with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, her eyes were red from crying as she had trouble sleeping during the night and she felt the only way that she _can_ sleep is in the comfort of those small, but strong arms of her teddy bear boyfriend, Virgil.

She sits there quietly, her fear growing and her hope fading at Virgil's absence, not that her grandparents couldn't care less that he's here or not, but his presence meant _everything_ to her and now it's getting late as the sun is setting about 10pm, she feels that her knight in shining armour _should_ be here, but sadly for her, he isn't.

As it's starting to get dark, she pulled her blankets over her, crying. She sensed that something is wrong, like someone or something is deliberately _preventing_ Virgil from seeing her, from protecting her, but she doesn't know who or what is doing this and why.

She looks at the clock, it reads 11.30pm and it won't be for another hour until her grandparents come back from bingo, when suddenly, the front door opens. Jaycee froze, someone's got the key to the front door, the only people she knows who got access to the front door is her grandparents, her and Virgil.

But, it's too early for her grandparents and Virgil would have call her name as soon as he entered the house, but there no sound of voices, except for the footsteps walking up the stairs.

Panicking, Jaycee opens the top drawer of her bedside table and withdraws a pair of handcuffs, which she uses to attach her left wrist to the left-hand corner of the headboard and waited in fear for the stranger to enter her room.

The stranger somehow _knew_ the layout of the house, because all the lights have turned off and knew where he/she's going and they're heading straight towards her bedroom. Jaycee had her back to the door so she couldn't see who's entering as the door opened.

Suddenly, the room went bright as the stranger flicked the light switch on, Jaycee curled herself tighter into her little corner of the bed, hoping that the stranger would go away. Sadly, this was wishful thinking on her part as she heard some scrapping noise coming from the top of her wardrobe and what sounded like a grunt and then a _sad_ sigh?

Jayce turns and peaks though the covers just to see what's going on. The stranger was a female, tall with ginger hair tied back in a ponytail. Jaycee held her breath as the woman turned slightly towards her, the woman's eyes were honey-coloured just like Virgil's and her face looks similar to his, and her hair is the same colour and brightness as John's!

Is this woman related to Virgil? She had been told by him, John, Scott and even Jeff himself said that _she_ looked like Lucille Tracy, the late mother of the five sons and late wife of the ex-astronaut. She doesn't know how this could be, since she knew nothing of her mother, let alone her father nor family, but she had seen pictures of her and this woman _looked_ like the deceased Lucille!

Fear gripped her as the woman took down the box from the other wardrobe and placed it on top of the first. Why is she taking these boxes? And what's inside them? That's a few of the questions that went through Jaycee's mind, until she froze. The woman is approaching her.

The woman gently grabbed the tops of her blankets and gently pulled them off her. Jaycee turns to look at her in fear, which in a space of a second turned into confusion. The woman looked sad and upset, looking into her eyes, Jaycee can see unshed tears in the woman's eyes as the woman knelt next to the bed.

 _Why is this woman crying? Why do I have feelings for her? Is she related to me?_ More questions filled her mind as she watches the woman who had just turned away to fiddle with something out of sight, which made her frown with worry. She's about to get more worried when the woman looks up at her, her face filled with regret.

The woman slowly lifts her left hand, reaches over to the young girl, she gently, but firmly grabs the youngster's free arm and gently and firmly pulls her so that Jaycee is laying on her back. She stood up so that she can put some weight onto the arm pinning Jaycee's free arm and then in her right hand was a piece of cloth.

Jaycee wide-eyed at the sight of the cloth as she realises what the woman is going to do. She started to struggle in fear and before she could scream for help, the cloth had been shoved onto her nose and mouth. After a few seconds she felt sleepy, the smell emitting from the cloth that she's forced to breathe in is overpowering.

She felt her eyes are beginning to close, try as she might she couldn't resist the smell which is sending her to sleep, then the room became blurry as her body became weak and helpless and then she succumbs to the darkness of endless sleep.

* * *

"…and that's how I got kidnapped." Jaycee said sadly as she looks up towards boys with tears streaming from her eyes.

The brothers are open-mouthed in shock. They had no idea that she was kidnapped, the elder two remembered that she was leaving around that time, which Virgil protested against furiously at the time, but not in the form of kidnapping.

Guilt starts to build up in Scott, wishing and cursing himself on not doing more to help Virgil to save and protecting their best friend. He knows deeply in his heart that Virgil will do _anything_ to protect her once he knows that the love of his life is still alive, after 14 years believing that she was dead.

But this had led to a new question. How did she start from being kidnapped, to being presumed dead to being alive and well? All four boys knew that this is only the beginning of this mystery and they are sensing that Jaycee has more to tell.

They wait for a few minutes to let Jaycee regain her composure, before asking that one vital question and which that duty to ask fell onto the eldest of the Tracy brothers, who spoke with comfort, reassurance, curiosity and concern.

"Jaycee… I know that this is hard for you and a massive shock to us, but… I have to ask you this… What happened after you woke up?" Jaycee sniffled as she tries to control her emotions. Scott rubs circles on her back to comfort her. She takes a few deep slow breaths before she continues with her story.

"When I woke up…"


	5. Chapter 5

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 5)**

By Jenny Taylor

They wait for a few minutes to let Jaycee regain her composure, before asking that one vital question and which that duty to ask fell onto the eldest of the Tracy brothers, who spoke with comfort, reassurance, curiosity and concern.

"Jaycee… I know that this is hard for you and a massive shock to us, but… I have to ask you this… What happened after you woke up?" Jaycee sniffled as she tries to control her emotions. Scott rubs circles on her back to comfort her. She takes a few deep slow breaths before she continues with her story.

"When I woke up…"

* * *

 _14 years earlier on the cruise liner King William V…_

A groan and a few turns indicates that one of the youngest passengers stirs from her unexpected sleep. Her eyes try to open, but had to shut quickly because of the brightness of the room. She slowly opens her eyes, squinting and blinking in order for her eyes to adjust to the natural light flooding in from somewhere.

When she is finally opens her eyes, Jaycee notices that she's facing a pair of weird windows. They were circular with a light, cream and light green patterned curtain pulled to one side each. Jaycee shuffles until she's leaning on her left lower arm when she notices the bedsheet. It was cream, soft and clean which is completely different to the bedsheets in her bedroom, which were old, dirty and rough.

She then looked at the pillow and used her free hand to touch it, it had the same colour and pattern as the curtains and the same soft feeling as the bedsheet and then she looked at the duvet cover, again it was soft and warm and had the same pattern as the curtains.

Jaycee then sat up and looked around the room. Underneath the windows was a wide, wooden oak dressing table which fitted between the two wood panelled walls. In front of it were a small wooden coffee table with two stripy armchairs set in the same colours as the curtains.

Next to her bed is a bedside table, lined with drawers and looked like it was made from the same type and colour of wood as the dressing table. The wall behind and in front of the bed, set in the middle of the wooden panelled walls, were painted cream and up a certain height above the bed was a neon light, mounted on the same type of wood as the furniture.

As she turned to look to her right, the was another bed immediately next to hers, which it looked like that it had been slept in. Jaycee looked worried in fear at the sight as she continued to look around the room. Next to it was another bedside table, identical to the one next to her bed and above that bed was another neon light.

In the right hand corner of the room was a wooden door, where it led to she was scared to know. Further to the right of the door was a pair of small wooden doors, which looked like the size of the cupboard doors back at her grandparent's kitchen, set into and halfway up the cream wall.

Jaycee sighed in sadness and confusion. She had no idea where she is, but she feels that where ever she is, is a long, long way away from her beloved Virgil. Suddenly, she heard a noise. The noise was muffled, but defiantly distinctive. It was the noise of a flushing toilet.

Jaycee froze in panic, her gut instincts tells her that the woman, who had taken her, is in the bathroom nearby and that she may return into the bedroom. Jaycee quickly shifted herself back into the bed, underneath the duvet and pretended to sleep.

She waited and froze in fear as the sounds of the first door opening and closing, believing that muffled sound belonged to the bathroom door, and then the slightly louder sound of the bedroom door opening and then slowly closing.

She can hear the quiet footsteps growing slightly louder as the woman approaches her. Then she can hear some shuffling behind her, indicating that the woman had just sat onto the bed next to her. And then, came a move which Jaycee never expected and had her frozen to the spot, the woman is stroking her hair!

 _Why is she stroking my hair? Who is she? What does she want? Where am I? Where is she taking me? And why is she…crying?_ Her mind filled with questions was interrupted by the small sound of a sad sniffle and for the first time, the woman spoke.

"I'm so sorry Jaycee." The woman spoke quietly and softly, her voice full of hurt, regret and sadness. "I've failed you…" The woman's voice trailed off at the end of the sentence and began to sob.

Jaycee's fear faded and was being replaced with curiosity and confusion. _How does she know my name? And failed me? Failed me for what? What's going on?_ Knowing that she won't get any answers from just lying there in bed, she'll have to get up and face this woman and hopefully get the answers that she deserved.

Jaycee turned and faced the woman, her eyes locking onto the face of this strange woman. The woman was slightly startled by the youngster's movement and then smiled a sad smile as she looks down as the girl. The woman sighed, knowing that she's going to be bombarded with questions from the frightened girl. She takes a breath, straitens herself and looks straight and deeply into Jaycee's eyes.

"I take it that you want to know what's going on." It wasn't much of a question, but a statement as she knows there's no point in lying to her, now that the girl is awake, as she spoke sadly and regretfully.

Jaycee nodded slowly, meaningfully and fearfully as she is sensing that whatever is going on, it's not going to be good. Slowly she regains her confidence to speak.

"Who… are you?" She asked nervously in confusion. The woman gave her a small sad smile with unshed tears, threatening to fall from her eyes as she spoke and gave an unexpected answer.

"The last time I saw you… was when I was forced… to abandon you… and left you on mom and dad's doorstep… when you were 18 months old." She replied with a hint of crying in her voice. Jaycee looked up at the woman, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock.

Silence fell as Jaycee takes in what she had been told and tries to work it out by remembering her past, she looked away for a moment before returning to look at the adult in realisation of the identity of the person.

"Mom?! Is that… really you?" Jaycee asked quietly in shock and fear as she too is starting to cry at the realisation. The woman smiled and nodded as tears flowed out of her eyes and she sniffled as she looks deep into her daughter's eyes.

"Mom! MOM!" Jaycee cried and rushed into the open arms of her mother, hugging each other tightly in a death grip as they both cried in a mixture of happiness and sadness. Jaycee just couldn't believe it, after these years believing that her parents were dead and then to find out that the person who kidnapped her from her grandparent's home, was her very own mother.

But, this had led to more questions and she wants to know now. She pulled away from her mother, looked at her in the eye and began to ask her some questions that needed answering.

"Where…" She began but her mother place her finger onto her lips to silence her.

"Shhh… It's okay Jaycee. I know that there's a lot of questions that you want to ask me, but it can wait until you had something to eat, you look dreadfully thin and underweight."

Her mother spoke with concern and knowing that her daughter hadn't had anything to eat since yesterday, but seeing the state of her daughter's condition is worrying her, telling her that her only and precious daughter is having problems of her own and she wants to find out.

"Go and have a bath, put some clothes on and then I'll take you to a restaurant so that we can something to eat." She said calmly, even though she is worried about Jaycee's health. Jaycee looked at her in confusion at the orders that her mom gave her and decides to tell her mom the truth.

"Bath mom? I don't know how to use one." Her mother was shocked in confusion and disbelief by her daughter's statement.

"What do you mean Jaycee?" She asked gently in concern.

"Grandma and Grandpa have been nasty to me mom! Especially Grandma!" Jaycee replied with sadness and fear in her voice.

"What!? Why are they being nasty to you Jaycee?" She spoke in concern and disbelief.

Determined to know the answer, she gently grabbed Jaycee's shoulders turned her around so that her daughter faces directly into her eyes. Jaycee gave out a sad, sobbing sigh as her terrible memories came flooding back and then looked directly into her mother's eyes, determined to tell her the truth.

"I don't know why they've being nasty to me mom. They refused to tell me. Grandpa gives me the silent treatment, while Grandma was being abusive to me, both physically and mentally." Her mother looked at her, wide-mouthed in shock and disbelief, she couldn't believe that her own mother would treat her daughter like this.

She hoped that this isn't true, but her daughter shuffled round as she wanted to show her something. The adult watched as the child turned to have her back facing her, she bent down and pulled down both her PJ bottoms and her knickers to show her mother the horrors of her suffering.

Her mother just sat and stared in shock horror at the sight. There were red markings surrounded by black and blue bruising's nearly covering her daughter's butt checks and it looked like that she's been beaten recently. She looked up to see her daughter's face filled with sadness and hurt.

"When did this happen Jaycee?" She asked in horror and sadness as anger and hatred begins to build inside her as well as disgust as she feels like throwing up at the sight. Jaycee pulled up her underwear and PJ bottoms carefully, turns and sat in front of her mother.

"Two weeks ago." Again, shock filled the adult and she was about to hyperventilate, but she took some deep breaths to calm herself down and regain her composure as well as returning to her 'detective' mode.

"Jaycee… Can you tell me what happened?" The youngster nodded took a deep breath herself before telling her the incident.

"It happened so quickly. I just entered the house as normal after visiting my boyfriend and his brothers, when suddenly and un-expectantly, Grandma demanded me to come to the kitchen. When I went into the kitchen, she was very, very angry and I _still_ don't know why, but… with some sort of hand signal to Grandpa, Grandpa ushered me to the table, grabbed my wrists and pulled me across the table and held me there while Grandma… pulled my shorts and knickers down and then…"

She broke down sobbing as the memory of the event was too much for her to bare, but she knew that her mother wants the truth, so she pushed through the sobbing to continue with the story. "She grabbed one of Grandpa's waist belts and then… she whipped me…" Jaycee starts to hyperventilate in shock and fear.

Her mother rubs circles on her back in an attempt to calm her down, before she could gain more information from her traumatised child. "Shhh… It's ok, it's ok." She spoke in reassurance and waited until the sobbing had died down and for the child to speak. "Are you ok to continue?" The youngster nodded, before resuming.

"After she…whipped me, she ordered me to bed _without_ anything to eat, so I went to bed hungry and in pain…again."

"Again? You mean it has happened before?" Her mother asked in concern and the youngster nodded. Her mother makes some mental notes to ask her daughter some questions which came to mind during the story. She looks at her daughter and asks her gently if she had told someone about the incident.

"Yes." Jaycee nodded again. "My boyfriend." Her mother gave her a puzzled look as she didn't know about her daughter's relationship.

"And who's your boyfriend?"

"Virgil Tracy, second-born son of ex-astronomer Jeff Tracy." She spoke in confidence with a bit of hurt as she mentions her lover. Her mother looked at her in surprise and shock. She couldn't believe what she just heard, so much so that she didn't notice Jaycee's puzzled look as she asked her a question which she didn't hear properly.

"Pardon Jaycee? What were you just saying?"

"Have you heard of Jeff Tracy mom?" The adult took a deep breath as she knows that what she's going to tell her daughter would change her life.

"More Jaycee," The youngster looked at her, not knowing whether to be scared or amused by her mom's words, but waited for her mom to continue and from the looks on the adult's face, this is going to be a big one.

"He's my brother-in-law."

* * *

The remaining brothers looked at her in shock. John and Scott shook their heads in disbelief as joy starts to fill the Terrible Two at the new realisation.

"Wait, are you saying that you're our cousin?" Alan asked getting excited as Jaycee nodded in reply. "Awesome!"

"Alan!" Scott snapped at the baby of the group giving him a look that tells him to be quiet before turning to Jaycee, still shocked and confused and he wanted conformation. "Are you sure Jaycee?"

"Yes Scott."

"How?" John spoke blankly, "How did our dad end up being your mom's brother-in-law?"

Jaycee sighed. "Well…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 6)**

By Jenny Taylor

"How?" John spoke blankly, "How did our dad end up being your mom's brother-in-law?"

Jaycee sighed. "Well…"

* * *

 _14 years earlier on the cruise liner King William V…_

Jaycee just sat and stared at her mom in shock as confusion sets into her. Silence filled the room as she tries to figure this new puzzle out and takes some deep breaths to calm herself.

 _Mom said that Jeff Tracy is her brother-in-law. How? Okay…one step at a time. First, when I met the boys, the elder trio said that I looked like their dead mom. Their mom had ginger hair like John and my mom, honey-coloured eyes like Virgil and my mom and her face looks like Virgil's and my…_

Jaycee's eyes begin to widen as the realisation begins to hit her. _No way! She can't be, can she?_

"You're Lucille Tracy's sister!"

"I was her identical twin sister to be exact, Jaycee." Her mother smiled sadly as the loss of her twin begins to bite her again. Jaycee's eye's became wider at the news.

"Are you older or younger of the two?"

"I _was_ the elder by five minutes, Jaycee. Please talk in the present tense? I'm still upset in losing my twin in that avalanche four years ago." Her mother pleaded her daughter as tears begin to fill her eyes.

"Sorry mom… It's just…I'm just surprised that I'm related to them. Do they know that I'm related to them?"

"Only Jeff and Lucy, Jaycee. Your cousins cannot know the truth at this moment in time." Her mother sighed in sadness.

"What? Why? Why can't they…" Jaycee began to speak, but was interrupted when her mother held her hand up to silence her, with a serious look on her face.

"As I said Jaycee, I will tell you everything _after_ you had something to eat. But first…" Her mother regained her 'detective' mode as she tries to get more out of Jaycee's story. "You were telling me about this recent abuse you suffered from Grandma," Jaycee's face fell and winced when her mother reminds her the story that she was telling her.

"So far, you told me that you told Virgil about the incident, correct?" The youngster looked a bit guilty.

"I didn't tell him straight away, mom. He knew that I was in trouble, somehow."

"What do you mean Jaycee?" A caring, but stern look from the adult bared down at the youngster.

"On the next day, I woke up to find out that my grandparents are out, again and I was in pain so much that I tried to reach the medicine cabinet, but it was locked. So I went to school without any painkillers." Her mother's eyes widened at the info, but remained calm as she waits for her daughter to continue.

"When I arrived, I didn't meet him straight away as I normally do because I entered class just as the first bell went, because walking was so painful that I walked slower than normal. Virgil's in the same class as me and was worried about me so much that he focused more on me than listening to the teacher.

"Although saying that, I couldn't focus on my work either, because sitting on a chair with these…(gulp) beatings… on my butt… hurts so much…(sigh) It was after our first class that Virgil asked what's wrong. So… I took him into the bathroom when no-one was looking that I showed him these." She gently placed her hand onto bottom and winced a little at the touch as she looked away from her mother.

The adult saw the pain etched on her daughter's face that she gently pulled her into a hug and rubbed small circles on the youngster's back in comfort. She gently rocked her and cooed her in comfort and reassurance for a few minutes, until she pulled herself away holding her daughter's shoulder and making herself level with the youngster.

"And what did he do after you showed him?" The mother asked curiously with concern.

"He was angry and decided to take me to the nurse straight away. I didn't want to because of what happened last time, but…"

"Last time?" Her mother interrupted her in shock. "You mean that something happened like this before?"

Jaycee looked at her mother in the eye tearfully nodding. "Similar, only last time it was worse and it involved with a staircase and a broken leg, not a waist belt and my bottom." Her voice trailed off at the last part.

Again the mother pulled her child into a reassuring hug, her face filled with concern and worry. _How much abuse did my mom and dad thrust upon my only daughter, during these 9 years when I left her in their care?_ After a few moments, she pulled herself away and gently coaxed the youngster into continuing with her story.

"He took me to the school infirmary, because he can't stand me being hurt, plus he loves me. (sigh) When we got there, the nurse asked me what's wrong and Virgil told me to show her, so I did… She was shocked and asked me who did this to me, I was too scared to tell her, but Virgil told her that it was my grandparents who did this."

Her mother nodded, listening with content while continuing with the unsaid coaxing to get her daughter to open up. "She didn't believe what Virgil had said and asked me if what he said it was, which I said 'Yes', because I was crying in pain. She then called the Headmaster to come into the room immediately."

Jaycee sobbed for a bit before continuing with the help from her mother coaxing. "When the Headmaster came into the room I, with Virgil's help, told him what happened and then he when out to call the cops and the medics, very angry and disgusted. While we were waited for them to arrive, Virgil comforted and kept me company."

"When the cops and the medics arrive, the medics checked me over while the cops interviewed me. Me and Virgil told the cops everything we knew about Grandma abusing me as well as Virgil's evidence gathering…"

"Woah! Slow down there Jaycee…" Her mother interrupted in concern. "What do you mean Virgil's evidence gathering?"

"Almost every weekend for 2… nearly 3 years… Virgil stayed with me, from Friday evening to Monday morning, to keep me company."

"Because you were afraid of your Grandma?" The youngster looked down towards her lap, feeling guilty.

"Mainly yes. When I told him about the abuse, he didn't want to believe me at first, but then I told him to take a video camera out of the box from underneath my bed and follow me down the stairs. I then told him to stay hidden and film me. Then I went into the lounge and asked Grandma about you… She then got super angry at me and started calling me, and you, names… as well as saying very nasty things about you… She even smacked me."

The adult widened her eyes and slightly opened her mouth in shock horror for a moment before she regained her 'detective mode' to gently press more information out of her crying daughter. "What did he say or do after he saw that?"

"He was in shock and I managed to get him up the stairs and into my room without being seen and while I was still in pain. We sat in my room for a while until he spoke saying that we need to report this to the cops, but I said that we need evidence to _prove_ what they did and filming just one incident isn't enough.

"So it was decided that, every time when Virgil comes and stays with me and when my grandparents were at home, that Virgil films every incident when I come in contact with Grandma. None of us liked it, but it's best to collect and get hard-core evidence so I can get justice from the abuse and neglect I received from them."

Her mother nodded slowly, her face filled with concern and worry, but she presses on in her 'detective mode' to get Jaycee back onto the original track. "Okay… So you and Virgil told the cops about the evidence of your abuse that the both of you collected." This was responded with a nod from the youngster. "So what happened next?"

Jaycee took a deep sigh before looking up at her mom. "The cops decided to get a warrant to gain entry into Grandma and Grandpa's, it's then that I gave them a duplicate key so they can enter without much hassle. Virgil and I told them where the box of evidence including the films and my dairies.

"I remember Virgil asking them how long will it take for them to get a warrant, and they said between 1 to 3 weeks. Neither of us like that and we asked them what are we supposed to do while they're waiting for the warrant. They told us to act like if it didn't happen until they arrive.

"Virgil was angry and demanded to know what would happen if my grandparents abused me again before the warrant was issued, they told us to record the incident and phone 911 immediately." Jaycee breathed a sad sigh.

There was some silence for a while before the mother spoke. "So… what happened after you and Virgil spoke to the officers?" The youngster sighed again and then took a deep breath.

"The medics wanted to take me to Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital, so they can check me over for more…injuries. I was afraid to go, but Virgil promised that he'll keep me company if I go, so I agreed to let the medics take me and Virgil came with me and we had a ride in the ambulance."

Her mother understandably nodded before calmly pressing Jaycee for more of her story. "How long did you stay in hospital, Jaycee?"

The youngster shrugged. "I don't know really, 'cause of the doctors and nurses examined me thoroughly as well as asking both me and Virgil lots of questions. A detective came in a few minutes after we arrived at the hospital to interview us."

"Can you remember what day it was when you went into the hospital?"

"Yes… It was Friday." The mother nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay… So what do you do on a _normal_ Friday?" This question gave Jaycee a small smile as she answers.

"On Fridays, after school, I join the brothers and go back to their place for a few hours. Playing games with the youngest duo Alan and Gordon, doing homework and housework with the elder trio Scott, John and Virgil. At 7 o'clock, me and Virgil leave their home and walked back to my grandparents for the sleepover."

"And how long does this sleepover last?"

"Until Monday morning, when we both go to school together." Again, the mother nodded, slowly this time, wandering what the youngsters were doing during these weekends. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside so she can get back to the subject in hand.

"Okay…So… Was this _particular_ Friday different to the _normal_ Friday or was it the same after you left the hospital?" The youngster shook her head.

"It was different that day, because… I was too scared to go back to Grandma's, so…"

"So you didn't go back to Grandma's that day." It sounded more of a statement than a question, but Jaycee knew what her mom meant and nodded in response. Her mom gently held her child in her arms, rocked her and rubbed circles on her back for comfort while Jaycee leaned into her mom's chest with tears flowing down her cheeks.

They stayed like this for a while in silence, the mother kissed the top of her daughter's head and returns to her gentle interrogation. "So…where did you stay? And for how long?" Jaycee sighed and cried silently before replying.

"Well… After being examined by the medics and the talk with the detective, everyone agreed that I shouldn't stay with my grandparents on that night, but… they couldn't decide where I should stay. The medics wants me to stay in hospital, the cops want to take me to either a safe house or to stay with one of them."

"I didn't like either of them and Virgil knew that I didn't and he suggested that I could stay with him and his brothers."

"And they agreed to this?" Her mother quizzed which was responded with a simple nod.

* * *

"So _that_ explains why you stayed at our place on that weekend." Exclaimed Gordon as the events of that fateful weekend before her disappearance, resurfaces to their minds and Jaycee's explanation answered some of the forgotten questions which were never answered nor thought about at the time.

Jaycee nodded sadly, while the others stared at her in shock.


	7. Chapter 7

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 7)**

By Jenny Taylor

"So _that_ explains why you stayed at our place on that weekend." Exclaimed Gordon as the events of that fateful weekend before her disappearance, resurfaces to their minds and Jaycee's explanation answered some of the forgotten questions which were never answered nor thought about at the time.

Jaycee nodded sadly, while the others stared at her in shock.

"I can't believe that mom got beaten up by her own grandparents." Alan spoke sadly in shock and disbelief as he voiced what his brothers had on their minds.

" _Our_ grandparents Alan." John corrected him. "We share the same grandparents because her mom and our mom are twins."

" _Was_ twins, John… was…" Jaycee corrected him, which made the others turn to look at her with worry, because her voice is breaking, giving the brothers the sense that something had happened to her mom, their aunt.

"Did something happen to your mom?" Gordon quizzed with worry which is responded with a nod from a tearful, young doctor. A silence of sadness and sorrow filled the room as the boys sensed a far too familiar feeling which they felt when they were younger, which is now emitting from the new-found, unexpected member of the family.

"Oh Jaycee… I'm so sorry." The eldest spoke as he gently pulled her into his strong embrace which is received with an embrace from the female, with tears starting to make its mark on his suit as he gently rocked her and kissed her hair. The others got off from the couch and went over to comfort Jaycee.

The silent comfort stayed for a while as the boys waited for Jaycee to regain enough strength to continue with her story. The boys personally didn't want to know how they lost an aunt they never met, but at the same time they want to know her, however Scott and John knew that during what she's going to tell them _will_ involve the death of her mother.

John and Gordon are the first to break away, but instead on returning to the couch they and Alan previously occupied, they cleared the table from the books, newspapers and magazines and sat facing Jaycee with Scott on her right and Alan on her left as he is next to break away from the hug, but decided to stay next to her, his face itched with worry.

Scott, after seeing his younger brothers' movements, rubbed circles on her back. "Cuz…I am really sorry about the loss of your mom _and_ for not recognising the abuse you suffered at the hands of our grandparents."

Scott is feeling angry at himself for not realizing the urgency of the abuse which he had heard several times from an angry and distraught, intermediate younger Virgil at the time, which he ignored until after her disappearance.

Jaycee sniffled at the elder's admission. "Not your fault Speedy…" She said sadly as pulled herself away from his embrace to look at him in the eye. "You had a lot on your plate in looking after the others back then, especially after you boys lost your mom and your dad was suffering from depression."

"But…" Scott began to protest but Jaycee raised her finger to his lips to silence him.

"But nothing Speedy." She said sadly, but sternly as she places her hands on his shoulders gently and firmly as she turned him physically to face her squarely in the eyes. "It's me who should be sorry… _I_ should have been telling the adults at school my problems as soon as I moved there, including the cops, but I didn't…because I was scared…I had no friends and I had no-one who's friendly enough to help me…"

She quickly wipes her eyes with her sleeve before returning to give the eldest a lecture. "But… that all changed when _I_ decided to help you boys as soon as you lost you mom _and_ when you and Virgil were having problems with the Chesterson brothers."

"Hang on a minute! How did you know about me, Virg and the Chesterson brothers?" Scott demanded in shock and concern with a frown etched on his forehead. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly as her eyes broke from Scott's temporary before returning to looking directly at him.

"I was in the same class as Virgil and Michael. Michael bullied Virgil as soon as teacher told the class about the loss of your mom." The boys looked at each other in turn. Both Scott and John had forgotten that Jaycee was in the same class as Virgil, but it also explains into how she knew the problems they had with the Chestersons.

"You saw Virgil getting bullied them?" Gordon asked in confusion, which Jaycee nodded.

"Err…guys…" Everyone turned to look at the owner of the confused voice. "Who are the Chestersons?"

Scott resisted the urge to face palm and kick himself. The older trio had forgotten that both Alan and Gordon were too young to remember the situations that had occurred between the elder two brothers and the Chesterson brothers.

"It all happened about…" Scott began until Jaycee interrupted.

"Sorry Speedy, but…the story about us and the Chestersons would have to wait until Virgil has recovered from his ordeal with the bald-headed chameleon to give his view in the story." Eyebrows rose in confusion with the unusual description, but it took a few seconds for the youngest to realise to who she's referring to.

"You're on about the Hood aren't you?" It sounded more of a statement than a question, but Jaycee nodded in reply. This made everyone down a bit until the aquanaut chipped in.

"Since when did you give bad guys nicknames?" Gordon quizzed with puzzlement written on his face alongside with the others after he spoke.

"Just now." She shrugged as the boys looked at each other.

"Speaking of nicknames," Gordon continued, "How many do you have? Because from what I recall when we were little (Pointing to himself and Alan) we'd called you mom and just recently at that rescue in the Sydney Tower complex that we heard is Rescue Girl. I know that _you_ gave us nicknames."

Scott face palmed in embarrassment as Gordon began to list the nicknames Jaycee gave them when they were kids, with his fingers as he cheered up and grinned evilly at his eldest brother.

"The nicknames you gave Scott are; Speedy, Speedy Gonzalez, Wile E. Coyote aannnnd…" Pausing for a dramatic, knowing that Scott will react to the next one and Scott can sense this as he realises what Gordon is going to say next.

"Gordon! Don't you even dare!" He warned but too late.

"Headless Hen! Headless Hen!" Gordon sang as Scott's face turns red with fury, Alan trying to stifle his laughing, John shook his head as both he and Jaycee smiled at the memory at the times when Jaycee would wind-up the eldest and gathers the other four into catching and giving Scott 'Operation Woody Woodpecker'.

'Operation Woody Woodpecker' is the self-proclaimed official action of a tickle torture with Virgil and John pinning Scott onto the floor and Jaycee encouraging Gordon and Alan to tickle their eldest brother with Jaycee joining in the action as well as taunting him. The four younger brothers and Jaycee knew the name of their 'Operation Woody Woodpecker', but thankfully for them, Scott doesn't.

Jaycee shakes her head and decides to calm down the situation the only way she knows how. "Oooh Little Fishy…Speedy…" She sang which stopped both the aquanaut and the aeronaut of the family in their tracks and looked at her waiting to hear what she has to say, because she knew that she had to stop Scott before he gives Gordon a black eye, which is something that no-one wanted, especially in a hospital.

"Yes mom." The fish replied, grinning like a madman as the angry pilot grunted in response, both knowing from way back when they were youngsters in what's coming next.

"As much we _all_ love to annoy Headless Hen with the 'Hen' nicknames…" Rolling her eyes on the emphasis on 'all' smiling and giving a deep, but brief stare at Scott and the 'Hen' mark, before returning to her lecture in a more serious attitude.

"We need to remember the main reason into _why_ I'm here _and_ where we are, because the last thing a hospital wants is International Rescue fighting each other, while they wait for the results of one of their members in an operating theatre."

All four brothers stopped in shock horror before looking down at their feet in guilt and sorrow. They knew that she had the unusual ability to snap them back into reality and she does so in such a way that it would catch anyone off-guard every time.

However, they didn't expect _that_ bombshell of a reminder to bring them back down to reality. They all turned their heads to look at the double doors, where in that room lies the gentle giant, fighting for his life, while the doctors and nurses battle to save his legs from a shark attack.

They sat and stared for a while, their little banter of nicknames quickly forgotten and silence descended onto the family. Too long in Jaycee's point of view, because she has more to tell them.

"Do you guys want to know what happened to me on the ship, after discovering my identity?" She asked, breaking the silence in order to get their minds off what's happening behind the closed doors of the operating theatre. Slowly, the boy withdrew their gaze from the doors to the female member of the family.

"I guess…" Alan shrugged.

"Well…it's better than sitting here waiting in silence to hear the news about Virgil." Gordon agreed.

"We've got about at least… (looking at the time on his holo-display on his wrist) oh…" John looked a bit pale after looking at the time.

"What is it John?" Scott asked his voice beginning to fill with panic.

"We've just passed the 4-hour mark for Virgil's operations." The red-head replied blankly, refusing to meet his brother's gaze. Silence again fell onto the family. And once again, Jaycee broke the silence.

"Guys…I know that you're worried about Virgil and the amount of time that Virgil has spent in the theatre, but…" She paused in order to get the others attention before continuing. "We need to stay positive for him. Besides…" She tossed her head form side-to-side. "I've got more to tell you before I reach the incident involving that… _witch_ and that _hated_ GDF!"

The boys were stunned from the venom coming out of her. But then they remembered what happened in the basement of the Sydney Tower complex during their last rescue mission. Scott took a deep breath to regain his composure and to help her pick up where she left off.

"So Jaycee…" The said person turned slightly to look at him. "What happened after you told your mom about the…" He paused slightly as he tries to find the correct word to complete his sentence. " _Incident?_ "

Jaycee took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she begins the next part of the story.

"After telling mom…"


	8. Chapter 8

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 8)**

By Jenny Taylor

"So Jaycee…" The said person turned slightly to look at him. "What happened after you told your mom about the…" He paused slightly as he tries to find the correct word to complete his sentence. " _Incident?_ "

Jaycee took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she begins the next part of the story.

"After telling mom…"

* * *

 _14 years earlier on the cruise liner King William V…_

"And they agreed to this?" Her mother quizzed which was responded with a simple nod.

The adult just sat there for a moment, gathering her thoughts together and processing on what her daughter had just told her. She wanted to know more about what happened between her only child and her nephews, but those thoughts were interrupted by some quiet rumbling coming from the person next to her.

The mother looked down at her daughter, whom is slightly blushed with embarrassment but her face is filled with fear. The adult decided to leave the situation alone for a bit and to help and to teach her stuff that should have been taught a long-time.

"C'mom…Let's get you sorted in the bathroom and then give you something to eat." She spoke softly which the youngster nodded slowly as they both got off the beds and walked into the bathroom.

The mother couldn't believe how little her daughter knew about personal hygiene and how long it took for her to teach her and even helping her to do these vital skills. They had almost spent an hour and a half, nearly two hours in the room alone, including emptying the bath water twice!

Once out of the bathroom, her daughter was much cleaner and fresher than when she first picked her up from her old bedroom the night before. Jaycee looked confused, she had never had any of these life skills taught to her before, nor the fact that she's now clean, which is something she had never felt before.

Her mother opened an old suitcase and took out a blue and white dress, it looked too small for the adult but looked just the right size for her. The adult helped Jaycee put on the dress, then went to pick out a pair of blue shoes with a blue flower on the strap and helped her put the shoes on.

She gently pushed her daughter back into the bathroom so that Jaycee can see herself in the mirror. The young girl gasped in shock awe. Firstly, she had never seen herself in a mirror before and because of this she was shocked to see how much she looks like her mother as the said person stepped into the reflection of the large mirror, smiling.

Secondly, the blue and white dress fitted her comfortably and it looked perfect on her. Jaycee smiled as tears weld up in her eyes. They stood and stared into their own reflection with the younger of the duo smiling and started to cry. The adult turned to look directly into her daughter's eyes, her face filled with worry and concern, but she neither had worried as Jaycee's eyes, even though tears are falling, are filled with joy and happiness.

The mother smiled as she pulled the youngster into her arms and there they held each other in happiness. After a couple of minutes and some more rumble noises from the youngster's stomach, the adult led her child out of the cabin and into the red carpeted corridor.

Their cabin number is 2098 on Deck 2 and then they turned left heading down towards the elevators (or lifts in British English) in the centre of the ship. Once they got to the doors, the mother pushed the UP button, as soon as the door opens they stepped in, the mother pressed the button for the Quarter Deck.

The doors opened announcing the duo that they arrived at the required deck. They turned left into the corridor, by which they then turned right in the direction of the rear of the ship and the restaurant, Wetherspoon.

Jaycee was confused, wandering where is she and why is there a British restaurant on-board including which ship is she on. She gave her mother a quizzical look as they sat down at a table. The mother noticed the look and gave out a sad sigh.

"What's wrong dear?" She asked knowing what some of the questions might be that will be flung in her direction.

"Where are we mom?" Jaycee asked nervously.

"We're on a cruise liner called King William 5."

"King William 5?"

"That's the name of the current King of a country called the United Kingdom or Great Britain as known as to the locals there."

"So…This ship is named after him?"

"In a way." The mother shrugged as a waiter came up to them politely asking for their orders which the mother asked him to give them a few more minutes to decide on what they want to eat, the waiter nodded understandably and said that he'll return when they feel that they're ready and then left them alone.

"So… where are we going?" The curious youngster asked.

"I will tell you more about the _reason_ to where and why when we're back at the cabin, but first things first young lady. You need to decide on what you want to eat, because you look dreadfully thin." The mother replied, her voice first filled with sadness and then with worry and concern.

The youngster nodded and then looked at the children's menu. She decided to have a beef burger, orange juice and a small bag of chopped fruit, while her mother chose to have freshly battered cod and fries (or chips as the British called them) with garden peas and black filter coffee.

Once they made their order, Jaycee becomes more curious and starts asking some more questions to her mother while they're waiting for the food to appear. "Mom…"

"Hmm?"

Jaycee paused for a moment, wandering what to ask her, because although she wants answers now her mother had strictly told her that the reason into where they're going is private and didn't want to be heard, so she thinks up a question hoping that it wouldn't be connected to what has happened in the past, what… 12, 24 hours?

"What's your name?" She asked curiously. Her mother smiled a bit before automatically answering.

"Special Agent Trisha Anderson of the Criminal Investigation Squad International, or CISI for short." Her reply was met with a puzzled look from her daughter, she smiled at her before giving her an explanation into what she's told her. "Basically, I _was_ senior detective into finding and catching _really_ bad people like wanted terrorist and criminals."

Jaycee was opened mouthed and wide-eyed in shock as she stared at her mother. She broke off the stare to look down at her hands in her lap. She just couldn't believe in what her mom did for a living and all she asked for was her name. Jaycee frowned as she tries to figure out what's happening based on what she had just learnt today.

 _Mom's a senior detective? To catch most wanted terrorists and criminals from around the world? Is this why she's been hiding from me all this time? Because of her work? To protect me from those horrible people who might harm me? What?!... Wait!... No!... It can't be! Can it?_

Jaycee looked up at her mom in shock-horror as the realisation on what just happened within the past 2 days, combined with her mom's job description hits her like a ton of bricks. Trisha looked upon her daughter's face, her smile turned to a frown as she realises that Jaycee might had just worked out some of the reason into why she's here.

Trisha shuffles her chair around so she's next to her child, in order to comfort her and before she could place her arm on her shoulder, a waiter turned up carrying a big, flat, black and round tray with their orders of food and drink on top.

Trisha thanked the waiter as he finished placing the orders to the correct persons, turned and left them. She turned back to look at the youngster, who looked like that she's lost her appetite after she realised what's happening. Trisha leans as close to her as she can, checking over her shoulders as she does so.

"Jaycee…" She spoke softly to get her daughter's attention. "I know that you might have just figured out why you're here, but…" She paused, making sure that the youngster is listening to her every word. "Now is not the time, nor the place to talk about it…Not in public anyway." She glanced over her shoulder to make sure that no-one else is listening to their conversation. "I'll tell you everything about the situation we're in when we're back in our cabin."

She pulled back and sat fully in her seat and gave her daughter a smile, trying to distract her form her thoughts. "But now… How about we eat up this meal…We don't want to waste it now, do we?" She picked up her cutlery and started to eat.

Jaycee sat there for a moment looking at her mom at first with sadness, worry and fear, but those negative feelings disappeared when suddenly, her stomach grumbled. She looked down and placed her hand on her rumbling stomach, then looks up at first at her mom and then her meal.

Her meal looked and smelled strange, but delicious as she gingerly picked up the burger, twisted it round to get a good look at it, and then slowly she took a small bite. As she chewed on her morsel the juices of the meat combined with the soft warmness of the bun, had got her taste buds tingling and she suddenly felt hungry and wanting more of the delicious stuff. She took a big bite and starting chewing it as fast as she can before she taking another big bite.

Trisha took a side look at her daughter while she's about to take another mouthful of battered fish, but paused in mid-movement as she watches her child quickly taking big bites from her burger. Trisha puts her fork down, shakes her head as Jaycee starts to hic-cup in mid-bite.

"Slow down dear." She placed her hand of her back rubbing circles as Jaycee swallows her last bite before another big hic-cup arrived and made her jump up her seat. Trisha picks up Jaycee's drink and hands it over to her. "Drink this, slowly! After that, breathe in and out, slowly okay?" She instructed, and the child did what she was told and after a while the hic-cupping stopped.

"You've been eating too fast kid, that's why you just had the hic-cups." She smiled as the child blushed with embarrassment from her little ordeal with the hic-cups. After waiting for a few moments, Jaycee opened a bag od fruit and started to eat them slowly while Trisha finishes off her garden peas.

15 minutes later after finishing and paid for their meals, the duo left the restaurant and returned to the cabin. As soon as they returned, Jaycee walked straight towards her bed and sat on it facing the window, her face filled with worry, fear and sadness. She knows that this is the moment when her mother tells her the truth.

She sits and waits until her mother, Trisha, had finished her business in the bathroom. Trisha enters the room, walks over to sit in a chair and then silently and gently coaxes Jaycee to sit in the chair opposite her.

The girl obliged to the unspoken command. The chair was surprisingly comfortable, so comfortable that she wished that could fall asleep in it, but sadly this won't be the case as she is fixated on her mother, waiting, waiting in fear for the news that will answer unanswered questions and will ultimately change her life, forever.

Trisha sat in her chair, eyes closed, gathering her thoughts. She was dreading this moment, but sadly she knows now that she had no choice, _but_ to tell her, because her daughter's life is going to take a turn for the worse. She opens her eyes, she can see the look of fear and dread on her daughter's face.

She takes a deep breath and lets out a long, slow and sad sigh, before looking up at her only child. "I guess that now's the time for me to tell you truth." She spoke with a mixture of sadness and seriousness as she leans forwards, resting her elbows on her knees and her mouth rests on top of her interlocked fingers, refusing to break eye contact with her child.

Jaycee stiffened slightly in slight preparation for the news to come, staring at her mother with sadness and fear in her eyes. Trisha breaks eye contact from her daughter as she begins her tale. "It all started 12 years ago, 2 years before you were born and 4 months before my saviour nephew was born."

She paused as she noticed a confused look upon the child's face. "Saviour nephew?" Trisha chuckled and smiled slightly at the puzzled question.

"Yes… Your eldest cousin, Scott, saved my life."

* * *

"What!?" All four brothers spoke in unison and shock as the youngest trio turned to face a very puzzled Scott.

No-one saw that coming, let alone Scott. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what he did to save his aunt, then coming to think of it, he doesn't remember _seeing_ his aunt at all. His thoughts were interrupted by the youngest of the bunch.

"Scott… What did you do to save Aunt Trisha?" Alan spoke, clearly excited and wanting to know what his hero did to save a family member he'd never met. But his excitement turned into a frown as he saw the aeronaut shaking his head.

"I don't have a clue Alan and to be honest… I don't remember _meeting_ or even _seeing_ her at all." Scott replied as his brothers became disappointed with his answer. " _But_ …" The youngsters perked up and were looking at him, apart from Jaycee, who knows what Scott is going to say next.

"I have a funny feeling that a certain someone who knows the answer to that question." He sends a pointed look to the doctor sitting next to him, making the rest of his brood turn to face her, waiting for her to continue with her tale.

"That I do Scott…That I do…" Jaycee nodded in response as her voice trailed off, making them realise that what she's going to say next will not be a happy one. All the boys shifted slightly, trying to prepare themselves for the tale of their aunt's predicament which involves the eldest of them saving her.

"So…what happened mom?" The aquanaut of the family asked, getting a bit impatient. "What happened to Aunt Trisha?" Jaycee took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she begins to retell her mother's tale.

"It started a month after the wedding of your parents…"


	9. Chapter 9

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 9)**

By Jenny Taylor

"So…what happened mom?" The aquanaut of the family asked, getting a bit impatient. "What happened to Aunt Trisha?" Jaycee took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she begins to retell her mother's tale.

"It started a month after the wedding of your parents…"

* * *

 _26 years earlier in the International Criminal Investigation Squad's Headquarters, Washington DC_

Special Agent Trisha Anderson walks into the office, with a mug of black coffee in one hand and a large file in the other. The office is a very large room, the size of a large hospital ward without the beds, is divided into sections of teams, each had their own desks, computers and filing cabinets for all the members of the chosen teams surrounded with shoulder height, fabric covered wall dividers.

Trisha walks over to the section where her team is based. There were 4 members in her team, there was herself, Patrick McGee, Robert DiNozzo and Jason Pride.

Patrick is a well built, mid-thirties man, with his brown hair neatly combed in equal measures. He may be a bit shy when it comes to interrogating the opposite sex, but he's a damn good computer genius which comes in very handy when it comes to hacking terrorists' hardware.

Robert is a tad younger than Patrick, but he's slim and handsome and more experienced out of the 4 of us now. He can be charming, very cocky and immature most of the time, but when it comes to investigating terrorists, like now, his immaturity flies out of the window alongside with some of his cockiness and goes straight down to business.

Jason is the youngest and newest member of the team. He's a younger version of Robert but instead of the short, chocolate brown hair that Robert has, he sports a long, blonde hair which he has tied up in a form of a ponytail. He's has some of the skills that Patrick has and some of the immaturity of Robert.

Trisha walks over to sit in her office chair, places the file that she's been working on her desk and takes a sip coffee as she stares at the desk where Robert now occupies, in sorrow. All but Jason felt the emotions of shock, sorrow, anger and determination.

It had been just 2 weeks ago when they lost a senior member of the team to terrorists, which that role is now filled by Robert and Jason had just been brought in to fill the 'newbie' desk, which was vacated by Patrick, who was the newbie and now occupies Trisha's old desk and she filling Robert's.

Jason senses the negative atmosphere emitting from his new team of investigators. He had been told by the Senior Director, when first transferred from NCIS, that the team was a very close-knit team and had been tasked to find the most elusive and dangerous terrorist on the world's most wanted list, Seth Gorgon Pluto.

Seth is a master of disguise, master blackmailer, rapist, murderer, torturer, kidnapper, explosives expert and bloody damn good marksman. No-one knows his true image and they only about half a dozen aliases, which sadly under one of them, had gotten close to the team, shot and murdered the senior member and team leader, Richard Gibbs.

Trisha sighed as she and her team looks at their newly appointed team leader, Robert. He had previous experience in being a team leader in his personal investigations, but it was only temporary and now the Senior Director had made him a permanent leader to his team.

Robert shook his head, drinking his own mug of coffee, trying to clear his mind from the grief of a colleague, who was his boss and an old, trusted and unpredictable friend. He places his mug back onto his desk, stands up, takes a deep breath and begins to address his team.

"Okay guys, I need updates on this guy." He turns to Patrick. "Patch…"

Patrick shakes his head in disappointment. "Sorry Rob… I'm mean boss, but this terrorist has disappeared into thin air again. It's a high possibility that Seth has disguised himself again, making him harder to track."

"Not what I wanted to hear Patch. I need this snake in the grass found! ASAP! Before he strikes again!" Robert scowled in anger and disgust.

"Erm guys…" Everyone turned to the owner of the voice. "Forgive me for saying this, but…"

"But what kid?" Robert shot a look at him that tells the newbie that his boss doesn't like being interrupted, but he lets Jason continue to voice his thoughts. Jason felt uncomfortable under that look, but presses on, hoping that his thoughts might help the team to get closer into catching the terrorist.

"Could it be possible that… your old boss… was murdered because he got too close?"

Everyone looked at each other, before looking at the newbie slightly perked up with interest. "Too close to what Jason?" Robert asked, his voice filled with a mixture of anger and curiosity.

"Erm… to finding his hideout maybe?" Jason shrugged under the gaze of his teammates, before looking at them feeling a bit frightened to hear what the possible responses might be.

"Or getting close to another alias he's working under." Jason inwardly sighed a relief as he and the others turned to face the only female member of the group.

"What are you gettin' at Trish?" Robert asked curiously at his newly appointed second-in-command before looking down at the file on her desk, which she has just picked up as she stood up.

"This is the file that Gibbs was working on before he was murdered, Brigadier General Henry Vulcan Magnes. It's a possibility that Brigadier General Magnes could be Seth and that Gibbs is trying to find hard-core evidence to prove it." She said as the others stood up and walked into the centre of their sub-office as she joined them and showed them the file.

"Soooo… What do we know about this general?" Robert asked them curiously.

"Not much I'm afraid boss…" Patrick replied sadly and formally.

"I've never heard of him, boss." Jason interrupted feeling a bit lost.

"That's because you had just come from NCIS, kid. Generals don't usually involve with naval stuff." Robert snorted sarcastically, making Jason cringe in disgust, before turning to face Trisha. "Soooo, I take it that you decided to take up the file that Gibbs was working upon yourself?" He spoke with worry and concern as she receives the said file back.

Trisha nodded slowly in response. Robert walks up to her and places his free hand of comfort on her shoulder as his chocolate eyes meets her honey coloured eyes. "Take it easy Trish… and be on your guard at all times, because… if this file is somehow connected to that snake…"

Trisha cuts him off with a wave of her hand. "I know Rob… I'll be careful, ok." She said in such a way that Robert knew that she'll be alright and she left no room for arguments, but it didn't ease his worry for her, especially when they had got a very close working relationship, which is now even closer ever since they lost their old boss to Seth.

Robert nodded in acknowledgement and moved his free hand from her shoulder to her cheek, his eyes filled with worry as she spoke softly and quietly to her. "Just be careful okay! I'm not in the mood to lose another friend. Any problems just call me okay!"

Trisha again nodded in response. "I will Rob, I will." She replied softly as Robert stroked her cheek with his thumb. Patrick's face is filled with worry and concern and feeling the same as Robert as they are feeling concerned and worried about being apart and sleeping in their own apartments alone, particularly with Trisha as she's the only female in the group.

Jason on the other hand can see and sense the atmosphere emitting from the senior members of his team. Their actions had made him worried and decided to give them a hug which surprised the others.

"Hey, what's with the hug-fest newbie?" Robert asked as he was the first to get hugged. Jason pulled back from his boss and voiced his reason.

"I thought that you guys need a bit of cheering up, you know…" He half shrugged.

"Well… I'm not the hugging type of guy really." Patrick spoke, shaking his head and backing off from the group, feeling unhappy, not only on what Robert had discussed with Trisha, but also from the unexpected action from Jason.

Trisha accepted the hug from the newbie. "Thanks Jason, as my dad used to say 'Hugging is the answer to all of life's problems'." She smiled.

"Shame it can't be said into finding and catching Seth." Patrick spoke miserably as he sat down on his desk.

"Trust you to be a downer on the team McGee." Robert snorted, looking at him in disappointment.

"Well, someone has to be the voice of reason, especially when we've been working on this case for nearly 5 years and _still_ nowhere near into catching the brute." Patrick retorted back.

"Guys," Trisha intervened making the boys turn to face her as she spoke. "It's getting late, we're tired and I'm _certainly_ _**not**_ in the mood for you two fighting again." She looked squarely at Patrick and Robert, whom were slightly stunned by her words.

"We don't fight. We're just…" Robert started but stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the look that Trisha is giving her. "Ok, ok. We got it Miss No-Nonsense." Backing-off in mock surrender, before addressing his team. "Okay everyone. Get some rest and we'll start working on this general geezer in the morning."

Everyone agreed, picked up their stuff as Trisha packed the said file into her backpack, picked up her coffee and followed the others into the elevator down to the parking lot. Once they arrived at the lot, they parted ways towards their vehicles.

Trisha entered her Blue Jean coloured Ford Explorer SUV, slung her backpack onto the passenger seat, started the engine and drove out of the parking-lot, then out of the secured area and then left onto Constitution Avenue NW. She continued heading east past the US Capitol onto Constitution Avenue NE and on towards the District of Columbia.

She continued in her general direction until she reached the entrance to her garage, which is situated behind her apartment. Using her remote control key, she opened the garage door, drove in, pressed the button on her key to shut and automatically lock the garage door, turned the engine off, got out of her SUV picking her backpack up at the same time.

She shut and locked her vehicle and walked over to the back door. She fished out her house keys, inserted it into the lock and then turned it until hearing the latch in the lock signalling that it is now unlocked.

She pushed the door open, setting off the infra-red intruder alarm. She steps into her kitchen, turns to her right and waved a contactless key over the keypad sensor to disable the alarm. She closes the door and then walks towards the stairs in order to get to her bedroom. Once she has entered her room, she places her backpack onto her bed, opens it and withdraws the file. She takes it and heads towards her bedroom door, which it's unusually thick for a normal door.

She opens the door a little ways and then opens a secret compartment in the spine of the door, she carefully pushes the file into the small, but very secret space. She closes the compartment and then heads back to her bed to remove the backpack. After placing her backpack in its normal storage space, she gathers up her PJ's and heads to her on-suite bathroom to perform her nightly ritual.

About an hour later, Trisha emerged from her bathroom, dressed in her PJ's while using a towel to dry off her damp hair in one hand and a pile of dirty clothes in the other. She went to down to her kitchen and threw her dirty washing into the laundry basket, next to the washing machine. She went over to a cupboard to retrieve a tumbler and then she walked over to the kitchen sink to fill the tumbler with water.

While taking her drink, she walked over to the intruder alarm mainframe and activated the night-time setting. While the alarm was setting itself, she retreated back to her bedroom, places her tumbler on her bedside table, got herself into bed and then fell to sleep.

A couple of hours later, she was rudely woken up when a couple of armed masked men burst into her bedroom. Before she had a chance to react, two men, one on each of her arms, pinned her to her bed and a third masked man quickly followed the man on her right, holding a piece of cloth and shoved it onto her nose and mouth. She tried to scream and struggle, but it became futile as the scent of chloroform sends her into the emptiness of sleep.

* * *

"Your mom was kidnapped!" All the boys exclaimed in shock horror, looking at Jaycee as she sat in silence after finishing the first part of her mom's ordeal with the terrorist.

"By whom Jaycee? By whom?" Alan asked getting part excited part curious and part worried by the story so far.

"Calm down Alan." Scott hissed, forcing Alan to back-off from his questioning as they look at their cousin's face. Tears were starting to run down her checks again as she relives her past and the story which her mom told which will have an effect on the remains of her family.

Scott again rubs circles on her back to comfort her and waits until Jaycee stops crying before speaking softly and calmly to her. "Jaycee… I understand that this is hard for you but… do you want to continue or we can stop here and wait for another time."

"No!" Jaycee spoke with determination mixed with sadness, she doesn't want to continue, but she knows that these boys deserved the truth whether they like it or not. "I want to continue, because… (gulp) this next part on what I'm about to tell you, explains the reason into why I disappeared and why I was left at my grandparents."

She looked directly into the eyes of all the brothers whom are present, hers was filled with a mixture of determination and sadness. The boys braced themselves for the incoming chapter of their Aunt Trisha's ordeal.

"So… What happened next Jaycee? After she woke up I mean." Gordon asked feeling that he's going to regret asking that question, but yet it is vital one that would help Jaycee to continue with the story.

"When she woke up…"


	10. Chapter 10

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 10)**

By Jenny Taylor

"So… What happened next Jaycee? After she woke up I mean." Gordon asked feeling that he's going to regret asking that question, but yet it is vital one that would help Jaycee to continue with the story.

"When she woke up…"

* * *

 _26 years earlier in a terrorist hideout, location unknown…_

With a groan and feeling cold, Special Agent Trisha Anderson stirs from her somewhat uncomfortable sleep. She tries to stretch her limbs only to be restricted by something solid and it was only by this fact she jerked herself awake, only to hit her head on something solid.

Trisha, slightly panicked she felt the area all around her, only to discover that she's trapped inside a clear, industrial, indestructible box minus the bottom of the box, which is made of cold, hard steel and to her shock horror, she discovered that she's naked!

Trisha took some deep breaths in order to calm herself down as she looks through the clear plastic in order to find out where she is and what has just happened to her.

The box that she trapped in, is situated to one side of a medium sized room, with dark steel grey walls and two dark metal doors, the single door on the wall opposite her and a pair of double doors on the wall to her right. There ceiling had old fashioned neon lights situated in a regular pattern, with half of them on lighting up her area of the room.

She can see that the box that she's imprisoned in is situated on some object, possibly a table, giving her cage some height and a perspective of the room. She awkwardly moved around inside her cage so she can make herself comfort as possible and facing the single door, with her knees close to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.

What felt like hours, when it was actually several minutes later, the door opposite her opens up and a group of armed, masked men entered the room. Four men separated from the group and walked through the double doors, another four separated and headed towards all four corners of the room and another four went to stand guard next to both doors.

Trisha looks up and tightens her grip around her legs, face shows a mixture of anger, curiosity, determination and a glimmer of fear as she watches her well-armed captors taking up their positions. She waited in silence for what looks like an incoming leader of her captors, and from the way that her captors moved tells her that whoever these men worked for had, what seemed like, a terrorist version of military training to the highest level.

A few seconds later, the door opens again and enters a single, unmasked man. He stood at medium height, modular build, black hair which sports a military cut and he looked about mid-thirties. His style of walking screams military as his march strides heads towards her, holding what looks like a file in his right hand and stops right in front of her transparent box.

"Well, well, well. So _this_ is the prey that my little pride has caught so…expertly." The villain smirked, his voice filled with darkness and evil.

"Who are you? Where am I and what do you want with me?" Trisha demanded, looking directly into the eyes of her captor, while trying to hide the fear that threatening to explode out of her.

"You're not in the position to demand things, Special Agent Trisha Anderson." He spoke slyly and in a way that causes shivers down anyone's spine. Trisha looked up at her captor in shock horror as questions starts to form in her mind.

 _How in the world did he know my name, let alone my job title? Is he the man who_ shot _my former boss? If he is, then…_ She turned her head to look around the room, slowly, as the shock of realisation starts to hit into _whom_ had kidnapped her, but then she looked down as some doubt starts to set in.

How can she be sure that this man, her kidnapper and captor, _is_ the man that her team's been hunting for all these years? Although her gut feeling tells her yes, her brain is in doubt and want's hardcore proof of this man's _true_ identity.

Also there's another question, which had bounced back and forth in her mind ever since the murder of her former boss Supervisory Special Agent Richard Gibbs. Is _this_ the man who _killed_ her former boss and mentor? Again, her gut tells her yes, but her brain is in doubt… again… and it wants hardcore proof…again…

"Now young Trisha…" The voice of evil interrupted her thoughts as she forced her head up to glare at her captor. "You _will_ pay attention as what you are about to _see…_ _**and**_ … _what_ I will say to you will _only_ happen _once!_ " Pausing to allow his words to sink into his prisoner.

Trisha looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and fear as she waited with a feeling of dread, which had begun to grow ever since the start of her ordeal, continues to grow at an alarming rate alongside with her fear and uncertainty onto what will happen to her.

" **First** of all: Do **NOT** even _**think**_ of escaping as we'll be placing a tracking collar around your neck.

 **Secondly** : _**IF**_ you do escape from your cell, the collar around your neck will _electrify_ you to your knees until the guards arrive to take you to the… _agreed_ punishment.

And **finally** : _**IF**_ you _**do**_ manage to disable the collar _**and**_ managed to escape to the outside world, you _**will**_ be caught _**and**_ you _**will**_ receive the _**death**_ sentence!"

The lead villain barks in an evil version of a militarily command, emphasising on certain words to make sure that his prisoner understood his commands and to crush any hope of her escaping in a form of a demonstration. He clicks his fingers and the double doors open to let the occupants of the other room to enter with their _cargo_.

The first group of men are wheeling in something big and heavy, about double or even triple the size of the box that currently held Trisha. The box looked like it had black sides and a glass top with tiny holes, under the glass looked like damp soil with holes which are no bigger than the size of a Quarter Dollar coin.

Once the men positioned the box in the centre of the room, while the lead villain moved next to her box looking at the double doors. Trisha could now hear someone screaming, begging and pleading in distress.

Trisha had no idea on what's happening, but she starts to have a horrible gut feeling that whoever this person, whom sounded quite young due to the pitch, is either being punished or sentenced to death. She hoped that it would be the former, but looking up towards her captor, who is standing to the left side of her box, and seeing the expression on his face made her cringe in fear as she realises that she's about to witness the _death_ sentence of another victim.

Her fears are about to become real as the double doors open once again, this time it's a group of men carrying another glass box with air holes and about the same size as the first box, but it's what's inside the box which made Trisha froze in shock horror and fear.

The victim is a child! No more than 10 years old. And he was screaming, begging and pleading in desperation, whom has become even more desperate as he realises on what is to become of his fate as he shouts. "No! Please don't! I don't want to die! No! Not them! NOT THEM!" These phases that had screamed out of his mouth made her realise that they are going to kill the boy.

"Why are you going to kill this child?" She demanded in anger. But to her dismay, her captor smiles and responded in a cool calm manor.

"Firstly, this child has _failed_ to meet our expectations required at every level and we have no place for failures here. And secondly, it's not _us_ who's going to kill the child, but one of Mother Nature's _deadliest_ creatures ever created on our planet."

* * *

"Deadliest creatures ever created on our planet?" Gordon repeated slowly as he tries to figure out which of Mother Nature's creatures has the capacity to _kill_ a human, as the shock horror of realisation hits all of the boys in the room.

"A CHILD!?" Scott almost shouted in anger. "Why the hell would he feed a child to a creature with the ability to kill a human? Just because the child is a failure?" It was clear that he's now super angry as couldn't figure out why an adult would do such a thing to a helpless child.

Now when Scott is in this state, it is usually Virgil who calms him down, but sadly the said person is in the operating theatre fighting for his life, so it is left to one other person who has an extraordinary ability to calm him down in the most unusual way.

"Shout like that one more time Carpenter or I'll send you back to your Grandma NAKED IN Thunderbird 1!" Everyone looked at the young doctor, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock. They have forgotten that she has the ability to discipline Scott, heck… she's the ONLY person, apart from Grandma Tracy and their dad when he's around, to discipline him AND in the most obnoxious as well as embarrassingly ways possible.

Having threat of being sent back to Grandma AND having to ride back there in Thunderbird 1 naked, Scott snaps his mouth shut and looks away in embarrassment and disgust, plus the added extra of being annoyed by the fact that the Terrible Two were trying and failing to stifle their giggling at their eldest brother's expense.

John shook his head but he couldn't help but smile as they are reminded of Jaycee's version of 'discipline' and 90% of the time it is Scott who has fallen foul to her 'discipline', especially when he's in a foul mood which was made worse when Jaycee annoyed him to the point that he has no choice BUT to chase her to get her to shut up.

But what Scott didn't know at the time, nor now as the matter of fact, that Jaycee's 'annoyance' was part of her plan to cheer him up as part of 'Operation Woody Woodpecker', which he's fallen for hook line and sinker every single time.

Although 'Operation Woody Woodpecker' was originally designed to cheer up Scott, but whenever he got tripped up and held down by Virgil and John, while Jaycee and her 'Blonde Twins' as she calls them, tickle him, foul and dirty words came out of the eldest mouth and the female HATED them with a passion.

So she took 'Operation Woody Woodpecker to the 'extra' stage reserved only for those who uses such colourful language. Jaycee would pull _both_ the trousers AND the underwear down to the victim's knees and tickles the bare cheeks of the victim's bottom to the rule of 1 minute per year, for example Scott being 10 years old, he would get tickled for 10 minutes on his bare bum and John would time the 'punishment'.

John had a special signal to let Jaycee, alongside with Alan and Gordon, whom was 'performing' the punishment, know when the 'punishment' is over. He would take a shoe and sock off one of the victim's foot and starts singing the nursery rhyme 'This Little Piggy' and play with the victim's toes as he does so. When it came to the last part of the nursery rhyme, John would at first play with the pinkie toe and from there would tickle all the way up the trouser leg of the victim, ending both the 'punishment' _and_ 'Operation Woody Woodpecker'.

During both 'Operation Woody Woodpecker' and the 'punishment', the victim would sometimes use more unwanted language and if that happened the punishment would restart, making it longer and even more unbearable.

So the victim had to learn to keep their 'beak shut' as Jaycee would say, during 'Operation Woody Woodpecker' or else, which is easier said than done if you: 1. Got annoyed to begin with and 2. Being held down by the second and third born brothers and being tickled by the 2 youngest brothers _and_ being taunted _and_ tickled by your brother's _girlfriend_.

Also **don't** get the wrong side of her either, because if you do or say something stupid, you'll get punished in the most embarrassing way ever imagined **and** she **will** do it, even _with_ or _without_ help in the form of either her boyfriend and/or the Terrible Twosome. Guess who has fallen foul to that too…

"Cut that out you 3!" Came a well-known annoyed tone from the eldest that snaps the ginger astronaut back into reality, but sadly for the brunette it didn't stop the Terrible Twosome, even if they tried, so once again, it's up to same person who would stop them giggling in her usual and unpredictable manner.

"Clown Fish… Monkey Boy… would you please stop laughing…" It sounded more of an order rather than pleading which stopped the blonde aquanaut and astronaut giggling making them turn to look at her. She looked upset and probably because they've interrupted her retelling her mom's story, which so far had gone from bad to worse, the gruesome, evil death type and she has yet told them what killed the child.

"Sorry Mom," The fish apologised with sincere and seriousness in his voice, when looking before looking back up at her with worry and concern written on his face. "It's just…"

"Don't bother Fishy," She interrupted, "I know that it's been a long time since I did those 'disciplines' on a certain 'Hen'," Glancing at the brunette next to her before turning back to face the aquanaut, "And remembering what we did back then, but…" She looked down towards her feet as tears starts to form in her eyes again, making the brothers worried.

"But what cuz?" Scott asked, his voice filled with concern as spoke gently. Jaycee sniffled, took her glasses off and wiped away her tears with a handkerchief before replacing her glasses sitting up and sighing.

"We need to get back to this story and this is the first horror of my mom's horrible and traumatic nightmare with the terrorists." She explained making the boys look at each other before returning to look at her.

"So… what happened mom?" Alan asked, his voice is small, filled with fear and dread on what she'll say next. "What creature killed the kid?"

"Well…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 11)**

By Jenny Taylor

"So… what happened mom?" Alan asked, his voice is small, filled with fear and dread on what she'll say next. "What creature killed the kid?"

"Well…" She began slowly, "From what I was told by my mom… the box that was carrying the child fitted on top of the other box filled with soil… The glass top of the box of soil and the glass bottom of the box carrying the child were removable..."

"So…you're saying that the creature _lives_ in the soil?" Gordon interrupted with concern and worry as he looked at the young doctor, ignoring the warning look from Scott. But the question he asked and from the description from what Jaycee had told them so far, has sent John into a fact finding mission as he fiddled with his wrist comm.

John's actions haven't gone unnoticed as the eldest asked him what he's doing. "I'm looking up on the net into finding what kind of creatures that _would_ kill humans that lives underground."

"What makes you think that there's more than one John?" Scott asked in puzzlement as John continues with his self-elected mission, refusing to meet his brothers' gaze. "Jaycee hasn't told us yet."

"True, but from what Jaycee has described to us so far, it sounds like it could be an army of killer insects. And from what I've found so far, from the description, the only type of insects that would kill a human on-mass are ants."

"How can an army of ants kill a human?" Alan asked in confusion, "We're too big to be taken down, let alone be _killed_ by them?" This made John look up at Alan as he gives them a lecture.

"Actually Alan, there's a list containing the world's top 10 deadliest ants, some which have a history in _killing_ humans." He pauses to let that fact sink in to the others as Jaycee remains silent and her face began to go pale when John continues with his lecture.

"From bottom upwards: Number 10 are Pony ants, habitat: sub-tropical regions of Asia and Australia. Non-aggressive, but has a painful sting.

"Number 9 are Meat Eating ants, habitat: Australia. They are omnivorous and will eat dead animals and plant matter, they'll attack live animals who'll come across their nest and very territorial, they are scavengers and their stings is somewhere between a bee sting and a large mosquito sting.

"Number 8 are Green Tree ants, habitat: sub-tropical regions of Asia, Australia and Africa. They'll scour around the nest for small insects, they have no sting, but they can produce a painful bite, which is made worse when they spray formic acid straight into the bite.

"Number 7 are Argentine ant, habitat: Native to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, but are also introduced to temperate areas in other many countries around the globe. They are invasive, capable to wipe out other competing ant colonies and severely disrupt the eco-system in the area, they don't have a sting, but they will give you a sharp bite.

"Number 6 are Bullhorn Acacia ant, habitat: Most tropical area. They live in Acacia trees and if an animal disturbs the tree, the ants will attack aggressively in vast numbers by either running down the trunk for a ground attack or jump for an aerial assault, they do have a sting painful enough for you to move out of the area, but not painful enough to kill.

"Number 5 are Saifu ants, habitat: East and Central Africa. Also known as Army or Driver ants, they move in a swarm cutting and eating everything in their path, they have a sting but their bite is hurts more, they mainly eat other insects but they will attack larger creatures such as snakes and lizards.

"Number 4 are Fire ants, habitat: Africa. There are various species of this ant with the most aggressive type being the Red Fire ants, they don't look for trouble, but if you disturb them, they'll swarm and when they sting, they'll send a signal that'll make the others attack. The sting is like being burnt with a match head that has just been put out, but what's worse with these guys is that the sting site will become inflamed, swollen and develop into a pustule aka pus. The pustule will last for 3 or 4 days but the red spot can last for up to a month.

"Number 3 are Florida Harvester ants, habitat: Florida. These will only harvest seeds from plants and stores them underground for food, their sting however, is excruciatingly painful and the area around the sting site will become deep red in colour and immediately a watery, sticky secretion came out of the skin. People have died because of this ant."

His brothers looked at each other with worry until Gordon notices his cousin's pale face. "You okay mom?" His voice filled with worry and concern alerting the others about the doctor's quiet and pale frame, stopping John in mid-lecture.

Scott shuffles around and places his arm around her shoulders and his free hand on hers, giving it a gentle squeeze and lowers his head to level hers. "Jaycee?" He spoke with worry, "Was it ants that killed the child?" Jaycee nodded as tears starts to fall as she looks down at her feet.

The brothers were left aghast in shock. They couldn't believe that one of Mother Natures' tinniest creatures that _killed_ the child, witnessed by their aunt. John quickly snaps back into reality as he's hoping that the info that he's just given them so far, would remind Jaycee what type of ant that had been _used_ to _kill_ people.

"Jaycee…" Jaycee looked up to face the one who called her. "Did any of the info that I had just read out, rang any bells into what type of ants that did this?" Jaycee shook her head.

"Sorry Ginger."

"Did your mom tell you what they are?" The red-head asked, trying to push Jaycee for more info.

"That's enough John!" Scott intervened with a stern look, his voice spoke with a hint of anger. "Aunt Trisha had had enough problems witnessing that horror and talking to Jaycee about it, let alone Jaycee remembering it what she said, plus we still haven't got to the part into how Aunt Trisha escaped from that hell-hole and personally…I don't want to know what type of ant that killed that child."

John was unfazed by the brunette's attitude and actions and he responded in his usual cool calm manner. "Like it or not Scott, we'll need this as evidence to put this guy away for good after what he did to Aunt Trisha…"

"And to our dads…" A small quiet voice interrupted John's argument with Scott which sent all eyes staring at her in shock and disbelief.

"What do you mean mom?" Alan asked unsure if he heard right. Jaycee puts her head into her hands, sobbing loudly, causing the brothers to look at each other, filled with worry.

"Jaycee…" Scott spoke with worry, trying to get Jaycee to open up more on what she had just said, as what felt like a lump of lead falling to pit of his stomach, hoping that what she's saying isn't true. "Are you trying to say that this… terrorist… had done something bad against yours and our dads?"

Jaycee sniffled and nodded in her hands. All the brothers looked at each other in shock followed by horror and then a mixture of worry and fear as they then slowly looked back at their long-lost family member.

"How?" Everyone apart from Jaycee looks up at the confused youngster. "I thought the Hood was…"

"No Alan!" Jaycee snapped at him with cold steel eyes and tears streaming from them. "The Hood had NOTHING to do with our dads' murder!"

"MURDER!?" All boys looked at her, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in shock, horror and disbelief as they nearly shouted in unison.

They couldn't believe from they had just heard as they look at each other in turn. They knew that Jaycee had some secrets that she wants to tell, but they didn't expect that one of those secrets _involving_ their dad, _and_ to make it worse was hearing the word 'murder' in the same sentence.

But this had led to more questions, what did _she_ know about their dad's _disappearance_ than everyone else? And _murder_? Their dad is _dead_ as well as hers? Silence fell into the room as those 2 words sunk into the boys' hearts and the youngest pair were starting to cry in disbelief.

"NO! This _cannot_ be true!" Scott broke the silence in anger and disbelief as he got off the couch and starting to pace the room, trying to control his emotions. "Dad is still alive! He's got to be…"

"Calm down Scott!" John stood up and using his calm, collected rescue voice to calm his distressed big brother down. "We _still_ haven't had all the facts and we don't even know half of what Jaycee is trying to tell us, _also_ …" He pauses as he looks directly into the brunette's eyes when the latter calmed down and stopped pacing and yelling allowing him to place his hands on the elder's shoulders, pinning him to the spot.

"We don't know _if_ dad's dead, so calm down, sit next to Jaycee and listen to what she says, while _I_ ask the questions, okay?" He spoke in a quieter tone allowing his words to sink into the aeronaut's heart. Scott nodded and took a deep breath to regain some of his composure and returned to his place on the couch and watched as John re-joins Gordon on the table.

John waited for a couple of moments for the air to settle before returning to question the female of the family, whose bleary eyes are now showing a bit of red from crying. "Jaycee… Do you have evidence to back what you said about our dads?"

Jaycee took a deep breath before looking up at the red-head. "Guys, I know that there's a lot of questions that you want to ask me, particularly about the fate of our dads, but…" She looks down towards her feet for a bit, taking another deep breath before looking up at her cousins. "It would be best…for all of us… that I should continue with my story, which…will lead to my (gulp) ordeal with that… _retched_ GDF and then finally… (sniff) to… discovering… our… dads'… (sniff) murder." She bowed her head and her voice was barely a whisper and breaking when she said the last word as tears threaten to fall and starting to cry.

The boys again looked at each other. They didn't know what to make of this. They sat in silence as John comforts Gordon, while Alan wraps his arms around Jaycee, burying his face into her shoulder and Scott places his arm around her, all of them in tears as her words sinks into their hearts.

The brothers knew that they might never see their dad Jeff again, but they pushed it to the back of their minds, partly to continue with their dad's legacy of International Rescue and partly in hope, hope that their dad would return and the family reunited. But sadly, that hope has been crushed by the words of a trusted long-lost friend-cum-cousin, Doctor Jaycee Anderson.


	12. Chapter 12

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 12)**

By Jenny Taylor

While the Tracy brothers were listening to their long-lost friend-cum-cousin Doctor Jaycee Anderson, Kayo had been searching for Colonel Casey to give her, her report on what she's learnt from her encounter with her uncle and the world's most wanted arch-nemesis, masterminding criminal, The Hood.

She was flying in Thunderbird Shadow when she had contacted the Global Defence Force Headquarters to alert the colonel upon her arrival, but only to be told that the colonel was meeting them at the hospital where Virgil is being treated.

She had asked the commander to alert the colonel in advance that she had intel on The Hood and Virgil, but she was surprised as well as the commander, that Colonel Casey had her radio off and the GDF could not raise her. Kayo nodded with thanks, cut off her comms. and turned her ship back into the direction of Sydney Airport, New South Wales, Australia.

During the flight, Kayo's mind was racing with curiosity, trying to figure out what has been happening during the past 2 nearly 3 days. First was that her uncle kidnapped Virgil and held him, what looked like at first, to ransom in exchange for International Rescue, which is not surprising given the fact that The Hood wanted the Thunderbirds ever since it first came into operation.

Secondly, ever since the remaining earth-bound brothers returned from that rescue at the Sydney Tower complex, they arrived with some plan to rescue Virgil, which sounded a bit too complex and sudden to be thought up by the boys alone, which meant that they had help, but whom and why, Kayo doesn't have an answer to yet and she's glad that she's not the only person who noticed it, Grandma Tracy and Colonel Casey had sensed this too.

Thirdly, despite following the rescue 'plan', which was a brilliant, up to the point when her uncle's minions pushed a bound and helpless Virgil off the Hubship from a height into the Pacific Ocean, which was then things had started to go wrong and amidst.

There was that mystery cable from the Hubship which, as Kayo found out in a horrific way, was attached to Virgil's legs and then there was one factor that no-one could predict, one of Mother Natures' predators of the ocean, a Great White Shark, attacked Virgil while he was tied to her uncle's ship.

This rose her curiosity into her uncle's mysterious actions and yet at the same time, sending her shocks of horror, dread and fear at the horror taken place in the ocean blue. Thankfully the arrival of the shark and the threat of an arriving fleet of the GDF Quad planes had forced The Hood to abandon his prisoner and fled the scene.

She was scared that she might lose Virgil to the predator and she was torn into either chasing her uncle for answers or rescuing Virgil, but thankfully the arrival of Thunderbird 4 at the scene gave her the decision she wanted, which is to chase her uncle and to find some answers to his unexpected actions as of late.

When she arrived at the Hubship and snuck aboard, she was even more surprised and confused into her uncle's angry statement of frustration. She had demand answers from him, yet the answers he gave her had led to even more questions, but she was forced to escape with what she had if she didn't want to become _his_ slave/minion.

After she had just escaped from her uncle, she received a call from John, demanding her to pick him up from the island and take him to Sydney Hospital and it's this location that had given her another question. Why did the boys decide to take Virgil there and not the nearest hospital to the base, which is in New Zealand?

She had sensed at the time that's something fishy is going on and it had nothing to do with Gordon's pranks either, but given the severity of the situation in terms of Virgil's medical status, she was forced to put that feeling to the back of her mind as she parked Thunderbird Shadow at base, met with John and took off in Thunderbird 1.

Flying in Thunderbird 1 is very rare as the boys are very protective of their 'Bird' and will not let anyone else pilot them, but this was an exception and not for good reasons either if any brother should end up in a mainstream hospital so badly that all of the other brothers had to be present. That was confirmed when she and John arrived at the waiting and Scott updated them on Virgil's situation, and the possible results didn't sound good either.

And then there was something else that was niggling her. After she told the others (on Scott's orders), John went to the canteen to get some coffee and she followed him, but only to go to the girl's room, it was after she answered the call of nature that she waited for John and noticed that John was talking to someone.

She couldn't see at first who it was that John's talking to, but she didn't have time to find out whom as John left this woman (as she could tell at the time) and came to join her with the coffee and headed back to the waiting room. When they arrived, she noticed that when he handed Scott his coffee, John leaned forward and whispered something in the elder's ear, which was replied with another whisper from the brunette and a nod from the red-head.

Whatever it was that they were whispering, she suspects that it might have something to do with that woman she saw in the canteen. But then Scott came out with an order from Colonel Casey to all of them that they all need to make a written report to her about this incident, and then Scott sent her to go to the colonel first as she had some intel which is really important and needed to be reported asap.

She had nodded in agreement with Scott, which that in itself is rare as they are both stubborn, hot-headed and at each other's throats when it comes to arguing about how IR _should_ be run. But this time she didn't argue as she's worried about the outcome on Virgil's life-changing/saving operations and determined to catch her uncle, if it's the last thing she'll do and reporting to the colonel with her findings might help in protecting Virgil during his stay in hospital, just in-case the Hood tries to kidnap him again while he's defenceless.

She had called Brains and Grandma to update them with the situation, which it isn't easy and Grandma was understandably worried and had asked Kayo to bring her to her grandsons, which Kayo politely declined saying that she had to see Colonel Casey asap and in person to inform her on what she found about The Hood's plans for Virgil.

Grandma Tracy was even more worried hearing this and demanded to be with her grandsons, but she had told her that the boys, for some reason wanted to be alone and they didn't tell her why, so she voiced her thoughts about the boys' actions over the past day and had promised Grandma that she'll let her know as soon as she gets some answers from them, but only after she had reported to the GDF.

Both Grandma and Brains had agreed with her that something isn't quite right with the brothers ever since the rescue at Sydney Tower and since she is very good in extracting information from them, Grandma reluctantly agreed with her and stayed on the island with Brains, while the latter heads off towards his lab with M.A.X. to prepare and plan some alterations to both the house and possibly Thunderbird 2, should Virgil return disabled and wanted to continue working with International Rescue with his limitations.

After that she had remote controlled her 'Bird' parked at base and gave it co-ordinates to pick her up from the Botanic Gardens, as soon as her 'Bird' arrived she got in and headed into the direction of GDF HQ, going through her mind in what to say to her along the way. However, when she called the GDF and being told that the colonel was at the hospital, made her even more curious.

She had a feeling that the colonel, might have headed there either to give them good or bad news about The Hood, or to give the boys some comfort and support since she is their Godmother, or to ask them the similar questions to what she's going to ask them, or all three of the options above.

Just as soon as she had just thought about those which of those options the colonel might take, her GPS had alerted her upon her approach to Sydney Airport. She announced her arrival to the airport and had Thunderbird Shadow landed next to the other side of Thunderbird 2, since she parked Thunderbird 1 to one side of the green giant, avoiding the GDF soldiers who stood guarding the Thunderbird crafts and one of their own Quad planes.

The presence of the GDF craft confirmed into what Kayo had been told from the GDF commander earlier on about Colonel Casey visiting the Tracy brothers in the hospital. She departed her 'Bird' on her motorbike, left the airport and headed off towards the hospital, still wondering why the colonel had her comms. switched off, which in a way is off character on the colonel's part, and Kayo couldn't put her finger on what so she pushed those thoughts aside until she finds their military friend.

Kayo arrived at the hospital a few minutes later, as she parked her bike in the carpark she noticed that there were small groups of GDF personnel dotted around the parking lot and the building as well as a couple of GDF ground vehicles. She left her bike and entered the building after showing the GDF guards her ID and asking them if the colonel is present in the building.

Kayo didn't need to ask the reception into where her 'brothers' and the colonel is as she instantly knew exactly where they are, so she went through the series of corridors towards the waiting room.

When Kayo turned into the final corridor leading towards the waiting room, she stopped dead in her tracks. At the end of the corridor is Colonel Casey, true she had seen the colonel plenty of times before, but it's the colonel's actions which stopped her. It looked like from the posture that the colonel is giving is that she's secretly listening to the boys and keeping herself out of sight.

 _No wonder she had her comms. off, she's spying, but why?_ Kayo thought to herself as she crept towards the colonel. As she got closer she can hear her 'brothers' and a female voice talking to each other, or more likely the boys are listening to the unknown female. Before she knew it Kayo was virtually standing next to the colonel, who is clearly focusing on listening of the group or so she thought.

"Hello Kayo." The colonel whispered softly, not looking at her.

"How'd you know it's me?" Kayo whispered back, feeling miffed into how the colonel knew of her arrival. Her question had forced the colonel to turn her head to look at her.

"It's easy since when I arrived and noticed that your voice wasn't present with the boys' conversation with my adopted daughter." She replied and turned to face back into listening to the conversation.

The colonel's reply had sent Kayo's mind into a spin. The colonel's adopted daughter is in the room talking to the Tracys? Why is she there with them? Kayo's mind was interrupted when one of the brothers' shock statement which brought both women into shock surprise.

"Wait, are you saying that you're our cousin?" Alan asked getting excited and there's a pause possibly indicating that the colonel's adopted daughter was nodding in reply to Alan's question, which he sounded pleased about it. "Awesome!"

"Cousin?" Both women looked at each other as they repeated the word in unison. Colonel Casey knew that her adopted daughter had feelings for Virgil and since she heard most of conversation before Kayo arrived, she was beginning to understand why, but being their cousin? It didn't make sense nor how for that matter.

However, thankfully due to John's curiosity, he did everyone a favour and asked that vital question into how the boys and the girl, named Jaycee from what Kayo could hear, ended up being cousins and her response was nothing from what they expected it to be.

When Jaycee gave them her answer as she's telling them a story, Colonel Casey looked down in shock surprise and then she nearly face-palmed herself in realisation into what Jaycee was saying. Her actions didn't go unnoticed as Kayo was standing next to her and her eyebrows rose with curiosity and silently questions the colonel of her actions.

"I'll explain everything to everyone after Jaycee has finished telling hers and her mom's story about the events that would probably lead up to the events of yesterday." The colonel whispered and then continued with listening to the story.

Kayo nodded in reply, she too wanted to know what's going on and spying on them alongside with the colonel makes it more interesting and possibly important, so she stayed silent and listened to the story being told to the brothers.

However, what the women didn't know that what they are going to hear would make their blood run cold and from the reactions from the brothers is that they didn't expect it either, but yet they trusted Jaycee and even knew her before they met Kayo, which made the latter felt uncomfortable and with guilt as she believed that it was her uncle that killed their dad, but that guilt was removed when Kayo heard Jaycee snapping at Alan.

"No Alan! The Hood had NOTHING to do with our dads' murder!" This made Kayo think back into what her uncle had said earlier. _'_ _That damn, bloody shark had to ruin my plan to_ fake _that Tracy's_ death _so I can use him as my obedient, cyborg slave!'_ It's an indication that The Hood wanted the Tracys alive so he can use them to get what he wants.

But leaves more vital questions, Jeff Tracy was murdered? By whom? And why? And how did _she_ know that Jeff was murdered? Does she have info about Jeff's disappearance which neither her, the brothers and nor the GDF have? Kayo looks up at the elder woman and notices her facial expression consists with a mixture of sorrow, pain, guilt, concern, worry and fear?

Colonel Casey is frightened? Why? Kayo wants to ask her, but the colonel had made it clear that she'll explain everything _after_ Jaycee had told the boys her story, so Kayo is forced to wait and feels a lump of lead and sadness fall into her stomach as she hears the sobs coming from the group inside the waiting room.

She looks up at the colonel and notices that tears had started to form in her dark chocolate eyes and threaten to fall, normally the colonel would hold her emotions until she's off duty, but this was something else and it's affecting her, but not enough to let group know that she's spying on them so she stands there silently and waits patiently for the sobbing to stop and allowing her adopted daughter to continue with her life story.

Kayo too feels like crying as tears builds in her eyes and threaten to fall like the colonel, but she didn't want to give both her and the colonel away their positions either. So she slowly and quietly lowers herself to sit on the floor, trying her best to stop the tears from escaping with the heels of her hands and then waits silently, like the colonel, for the sobbing and grieving to stop, which will then allow Jaycee to continue with her story.

Both women knew that as more of Jaycee's life story is revealed, not only will their questions will be answered and more, but also the worst news which will ultimately change the lives of the family and friends of the Tracys and possibly International Rescue and Tracy Industries forever.


	13. Chapter 13

**Flashbacks and Memories (Part 13)**

By Jenny Taylor

After a while of sobbing and grieving, Doctor Jaycee Anderson and four of the Tracy brothers; Scott, John, Alan and Gordon, slowly calmed down to the point of talking and listening again. The boys are still at a loss hearing that their dad Jeff Tracy is now dead, but again, they only heard the basics of the story and Jaycee wanted to tell them everything she knows.

Jaycee is the first to come back into reality, even though she silently still grieving from the inside, she had to, no… _wants_ to tell the boys what happened to her amongst other questions she knew that they are silently asking her. She let out a big, long and slow sigh, before looking at the boys, who still hanging either onto each other or her, depending on where each of the brothers are sitting, heads down and tears falling from their reddened eyes.

"Are you guys ready to continue to listen to my story?" She asked slowly, sadly and anxious, letting her words sink into the boys and waited for them to speak.

"Not really…" The eldest replied as he straitens his back and wipes away his tears with his gloved hand, his voice is filled with sadness, honesty and defeat before slightly changing into determination, worry and curiosity as he knew what needs to be done as he looks directly into her eyes.

"But… given what you told us so far, there's still a lot more that you want to tell us…including into how… we've lost dad." Scott turned away from Jaycee as his voice broke at the mention of his dad's demise and tears threaten to fall again. Jaycee freed her hand from Scott, picked a packet of paper handkerchiefs from her pocket, single-handily opened it and withdrew a handkerchief and silently offered it to him.

Scott took the silent offer and gave her a quiet 'thanks' before blowing his nose, then wiping away his tears and then took some deep breathes to calm and compose himself while Jaycee offered John and Gordon with the handkerchiefs which they both accepted and copied the actions of the elder.

After offering the red-head and the fish with the handkerchiefs, she took one and tried to used it to wipe away Alan's tears, which was a bit awkward for her as the youngest buried his face into the side of her chest and had nearly fallen asleep crying.

Jaycee gently coaxed him awake and gives him the soft paper tissue, which he accepted and wiped away his own tears before leaning back onto her chest with both hands clutching the tissue, sniffling while Jaycee gently wraps her arm around him and then rubs comforting circles on his back before repeating the question she asked earlier as she feels that only Scott had listened to her question and not the others, but she wants conformation from the others before she could continue.

"John? Alan? Gordon? Do you three want me to continue with my story?"

"If it's the only way that we can find out who killed dad, then yeah, I'm in." A solemn aquanaut replied before looking up at her, waiting to find out more from his cousin. Jaycee silently nodded and waited for the replies from the two astronauts.

"I agree with Gordon on this." John replied as he sighed before regaining his posture, looking up at the female of the group and his voice nearly returning to his 'rescue' mode and readied himself to record his cousin's story. "We'll need your testimony as evidence to bring whoever killed dad to justice." Jaycee slowly nodded in agreement and then looked down at Alan as they waited for his response to her question.

"Can't believe he's gone." The youngster spoke quietly, his voice is barely above a whisper as gently shakes his head which lays on his cousin's chest and tears roll down his cheeks. Both Jaycee and Scott heard him, they looked at each other before looking back down at the teenager.

Scott stood up and walked towards Alan, anticipating Scott's movements Jaycee gently coaxes Alan so that both him and her can shuffle along the couch so that Scott can sit next to the baby of the family. As Scott sits on the couch, he wraps his arm around him and lifts him awkwardly onto his lap.

Normally Alan would resist and retorts such actions, but this is an exemption and lets his big brother lift him and setting him to sit sideways on to his lap and Alan rests his head on his brother's chest as Scott leans back into the couch, wraps him arms the baby blonde and kisses the mop of blonde hair.

Jaycee shuffles along next to Scott as he uses his right arm to coax her to join him to embrace and comfort Alan, then she lifts Alan's legs so they lay across hers and then she lays into Scott's embrace and reaches out to hold Alan's hands with hers, with neither brunettes' taking their sorrowful eyes of the baby blonde.

Once Scott, Jaycee and Alan shifted positions, Gordon and John stood and stretched for a moment as sitting on a coffee table wasn't a comfortable place to sit for long hours. Then Gordon placed himself next to Jaycee, leaning back onto the couch looking at her while John sat next to him at the end of the couch, shifting his body into a position so he could see his brothers and cousin clearly, without obstruction from the aquanaut's head.

"Alan…Alan…" The gentle voice of the female brings the youngster out of his empty trance and looks up towards the one person that the youngest consider as his mom. "I know what losing a parent feels like, weather they were taken by men of evil, like our dads, or by Mother Nature, like our moms. But remember this… no matter what happens, the spirits of our parents will always be us, within our hearts and will guide us through these dark times.

"They'll always be with us and they're with us now, to help and comfort us while we wait for Virgil." They all turned to look at the double doors where the surgeons are battling to save the legs and life of the gentle giant, who lies helpless, unconscious and oblivious to actions performing by the medics.

Jaycee then turns back to face the baby blonde. "I will have no doubt that they're with him now, helping him, to give him strength, courage, belief, hope and comfort that he'll pull through and… although I don't know how much damage his legs have sustained but I do know this…" She pauses and looks at all of the brothers like she addressing to them as well as Alan. "When Virgil wakes up, we'll help him, to give him hope and courage to walk again as well as finding the bastard who did this to him and bring him to justice."

The boys were taken aback, wide-eyed in shock, not only because they had forgotten a similar speech which she'd spoke before when they were kids, but also the language she'd used to describe the Hood.

"I can't believe that you'd just said that." Scott exclaimed open-mouthed in shock, which gave Jaycee a puzzled look.

"Said what Speedy?" She asked, unsure to what the eldest was referring to until the red-head of the family spoke.

"You calling the Hood a bastard! And the word bastard is a swear word." He spoke in his usual informed manner, making the doctor wide-eyed into what she had just said in surprise and confusion.

"Is it? I didn't know that." She replied in worry. "I've heard people using that word, but I never knew what it meant or why it was used." She lowered her head down in shame. She never, _ever_ used swear words in her life, because she hated them with a passion and this is the first time that anyone had told her that a word she'd used was a swear word.

"I thought you knew every swear word." Gordon spoke in surprise to Jaycee's statement.

"Yeah…" Alan agreed as he perked up from where he's sitting on his hero's lap, his voice has hint of surprise and joy. "We'd used to punish Scott whenever he'd used them." A small smile appeared on the blonde astronaut and a large grin appeared on the aquanaut's faces, while the brunette grimaced at the memory of him being punished in the most embarrassing way by the female and his younger brothers for swearing.

Jaycee sighed and shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know anything anymore. If this kidnapping didn't happen then yeah I'd probably would, but… (sniff) because of the terrorist and what he did to our family _and_ the G.D.F. I sadly don't know anything, let alone learning how to be a civilian." Her voice trailed off at the end of her statement as the boys looked at her in shock worry and then at each other asking silent questions to each other and replying in the same manner.

 _This terrorist has links to the GDF? What did he do?_ These are some of the questions that the boys are silently asking each other and the answers are all the same… They do not know and the only person who has those answers are sitting between them. They pondered in silent wondering what to ask her next and then, as usual, the lone wolf of the pack re-asks the question, in hope to get the ball rolling.

"You mom said that the boy was killed by ants right?" He asks, making the female look up at him in confusion, due to the sudden change in the subject.

"Yes." She replied in a small voice of uncertainty as she cocks her head to one side in confusion as well as the other brothers in a similar fashion, wondering why John had gone back to the incident involving ants.

"Did your mom tell you what kind of ants they are?"

Jaycee paused for a moment to think about it before looking back at him. "She did, but I can't remember the name of them, except… (she closed her eyes, trying to remember what her mom said about the tiny creatures) that they are in the top ten of the world's deadliest ants." She opened her eyes after saying the last part of her statement slowly as she tries to remember her mom's ordeal with the terrorist.

That last part of the statement sent John back into his self-implied 'mission' and brought back up the information he had earlier when he gave them a lecture, which was interrupted when Jaycee became pale with fear. He looked down the info spread before him until he reached the point where he'll pick up from.

"Where did you get up to Johnny?" Gordon asked with curiosity as John sifted through the info.

"Firstly, don't call me Johnny." The red-headed astronaut scowled at his younger brother before returning to his fact-finding mission-cum-lecture. "So far we started from the bottom of the top ten deadliest ants which are: Pony ants, Meat Eating ants, Green Tree ants, Argentine ants, Bullhorn Acacia ants, Saifu Ants, Fire Ants and lastly we're up to number three of the top ten is Florida Harvester ants."

He paused to look up at the female member of the family and allowing her to think over what he had just said. "Are any of these sound familiar to you Jaycee?" He asked.

Jaycee thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm afraid not Lone Wolf."

"So… what _are_ the top two of the world's deadliest ants then John?" Scott asked worryingly, feeling that he'll regret asking that, partially for two reasons. First was that John will answer that in a form of a lecture and secondly was that when John does answer, he answers that he'll give out could go either two ways.

One is that Jaycee _didn't_ know or heard any of the last two ants and would mean John would have to do some more research in order to find the ant that Jaycee remembers. The second is that Jaycee _does_ know one of the last two, not only they'll know which ant species that killed that helpless boy in front of their aunt/her mom all those years ago, but they'll also gain some evidence that would bring this terrorist, whom has evaded capture for years, to justice.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the wait, I wasn't happy with this chapter so I deleted the previous version and now uploaded the new version in it's place.**

 **Please read Author's notes after reading chapter for more info.**

 **Thanks.**

 **Jenny.**

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 **Flashbacks and Memories (Part 14)**

By Jenny Taylor

"Well…" John began, "The second deadliest ant are Bull ants, habitat: Australia. This species has a number of subfamily members including Red Bull ants, Bulldog ants and the Jumping Jack ants. The Bull ants are the largest and the most aggressive on the planet, they have long mandibles which they use to hold onto their prey and then they curl their abdomen, in a rapid fashion, inject their venomous sting into their prey.

"They have large eyes and are fearless, meaning that they will not back down from any opponent including humans. They will attack intruders who have come too close to their nests and even chase them away. If an opponent intimidates them, they will raise up with their mandibles opened wide, readying themselves to charge if necessary and they are carnivorous. Their stings are extremely painful and have been known to cause human death."

John was about to start the lecture on the final ant when he got elbowed in his side by a concerned Gordon. An annoyed John first looked at his intermediate younger brother with an angry glare until the elder blonde silently used his head to nod into the direction of Doctor Jaycee Anderson with a worried look.

"What's wrong mom?" A worried Alan asked a pale looking doctor. Jaycee turned to look at John with a mixture of worry, concern and fear look.

"John…" Her voice was barely a whisper when she spoke, which forced John to lean closer to her to listen. "How many…(gulp) types of bull ants are there?... 'Cause… that name sounds familiar to me." Her voice was shaking and feeling a bit scared as she fears and waits for John's answer to her question.

John quickly abandons his first little mission and straight into his second little mission into finding the answer they seek, sensing that Jaycee's interruption indicates that there's something important. "Well…according to the internet, there's 92 types of Bull ants."

"92! Jesus John, how on earth did it get upto that number?" Gordon nearly jumped up in surprise, before quickly looking thoughtful. "Err… on second thought… Don't answer that."

"Well…" John started, clearly ignoring his younger brother but was interrupted by a worried female member of the family.

"John?" John looks up towards the owner of the voice.

"Yes?" Jaycee pauses, trying to figure out how to word the question.

"Do they… do they all have English names?" She asked, referring to the offending animals in question. John quickly looks over his new data to answer her question.

"According to the net, only 13 out of the 92 species of the Bull ant have English names on top of their Latin names."

"What are they?" She asked, feeling scared for the answers she might receive from him.

"They are: Wide Jawed Bull ant, Giant Bull ant, Toothed Bull ant, Tasmanian Inchman, Inchmen ant, Giant Red Bull ant, Toothless Bull ant, Black-headed Bull ant, Golden-tailed Bull ant, Jack Jumper ant, Inch ant, Blacktoothed Bull ant and Baby Bull ant." John spoke slowly and clearly, pausing between each name to let them sink into Jaycee, hoping that one of those names _is_ the culprit that killed that helpless boy, witnessed by their aunt in that terrorist cell.

Silence fell as the boys waited for Jaycee's answer as she closed her eyes, focusing and trying to remember what her mom said. After a few minutes she opened her eyes slowly, frowning in sadness before slowly looking first to Scott and Alan on her left and then Gordon and John on her right, looking pale. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly before giving out her answer.

"The ant that killed that boy is…" She takes another breath and releases it slowly. "The mutated version of… the Giant Red Bull ant." The brothers gave her a quizzical look, unsure on what she meant, which didn't go unnoticed by the young doctor. "When I meant mutated I mean that… the terrorists… enlarged the ants by giving them extra oxygen during their life cycle."

There was a pause as the boys try to visualise what she described, Scott and Gordon shook their heads as they couldn't visualise nor understood what she meant, whereas the astronauts however _can_ visualise the description, but only upto a certain degree as they don't know how big the ants got.

"Err mom…" Jaycee turned to look the owner of the young man, raising her eyebrow in a silent question. "Did… did your mom tell you how big these ants were?" He paused as he tried to word the question.

Jaycee closed her eyes, trying to remember what her mom told her about the size of these mutated tiny creatures. She opens her eyes and gives them a straight answer. "Their head is about 10mm wide and their body is about 50mm long."

Her answer sends John into work mode, turning those figures into a virtual creature using his holo-wrist-pad to make the program, then compared it with a virtual size of a normal ant and then showing them side-by-side to his family which was received with a mixture of shock-awe and shock-horror.

"Jesus! That's huge!" Exclaimed Alan.

"Certainly wouldn't want to meet _them_ on a rainy day." Joked Gordon.

"You're not wrong there, little bro." John agreed, with a hint of surprise.

"Same here." Scott spoke with a hint of worry as he saw his cousin's pale face. "What's wrong Jaycee?" He asked alerting his younger siblings to her presence.

"I'd just feel sad for the child who was killed by them and for my mom who witnessed that terrible event." She replied, her voice filled with hurt and sadness, her eyes looking down to her hands which were moving subconsciously with each other in her lap.

Once again, the room fell silent as they sat quietly praying for those who lost their lives to the most wanted, elusive and dangerous terrorist on the planet, Seth Gorgon Pluto. After a moment of silent prayers, Scott broke the silence.

"Jaycee…" The said person turns her head to look at him, waiting for another question she knows that needed answering. Scott hesitated as he tries to word the question appropriately. "What…what happened after… after the umm…" He runs his free hand across his head, feeling either awkward or stupid to be asking his cousin this question.

"Incident when mom was forced into watching the _death_ sentence being performed in front of her?" The boys turned to look at her with a mixture of surprise and worry. The way she spoke sounded more like a statement than a question as her voice was filled with sadness as she slowly forces herself to lean back onto the couch and lets out a sad sigh as she looks up towards the ceiling.

"After the incident, they took mom into her own cell and left her in there overnight with nothing more than a plate of bread and a cup of water… The next morning however… is the first of her horrific ordeals which the terrorist put her through during the 2 months that she was held prisoner."

"2 MONTHS!?"

* * *

 **Hello everyone,**

 **My apologies for the delay with the story.**

 **The loss of 2 relatives (1st in May 2016 and 2nd in February this year), losing job (May 2016), gaining work experience (December 2017), 2 relatives with cancer (1st in November 2016 and now all clear, 2nd in May 2017 and died February this year), 1 relative needing life-saving open heart surgery (diagnosed in May 2017, surgery successful in January this year), failing 4 motorcycle part 1 practical tests and a writers block within the past 2 years has overwhelmed me that this story has been put at the bottom of the list.**

 **Because of my Asperger's I was struggling to cope and couldn't move this story forward because I felt the previous version of chapter 14 didn't fit with the story and I needed help, so I would like to thank** 2ndOutOf7 **for helping me.**

 **Hopefully once the funeral of my relative is over, I would hopefully get back to writing and posting more chapters.**

 **Thank you for patience and for staying with me.**

 **Kind regards.**

 **Jenny.**


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